Patna, Sept 28: Union Minister JP Nadda felicitated several para-athletes at a function in Patna, Bihar, on Saturday.

Among the ones felicitated in the function included men's high jump para-athlete Shailesh Kumar, who finished fourth in the T63 high jump event in the Paris Paralympics, and Sharad Kumar, the silver medallist in the high jump at the T63 Paris Paralympics.

Speaking at the event, Nadda said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a lot of importance to sports.

"We all know how much importance Prime Minister Modi has given to sports. We all know that earlier no one gave it any priority, but since Prime Minister Modi became the PM, he has made a special plan to increase our participation in sports, especially the Olympics...If we talk about Khelo India, 1,000 Khelo India Centres have been made out of which 700 are operational..."

Speaking to ANI, Shailesh said, "It feels good. It is happening the first time that a player is being felicitated here. This never happened in Bihar. This will motivate players a lot. When I used to play nationals, nobody came to see us. But now we have reached the Paralympics. This will motivate the national level players. Bihar has very few facilities. Players reaching Paralympics is a big deal. I would urge the government to support us more."

Shailesh also vowed to bring a medal during the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics.

Sharad's father, Surendra, also told ANI, "For the first time we are seeing this (players being felicitated). This will raise the motivation of the players. This is commendable. My son will continue making the country. PM Modi has encouraged sportspersons a lot. Bihar facilities has improved, but we need more."

The Indian contingent concluded its historic Paris Paralympics campaign with a total of 29 medals, including seven gold, nine silver, and 13 bronze medals, the most by the country in the history of the competition.

A look at India's medalists at the Paris 2024 Paralympics:

-Avani Lekhara (Shooting, Women's 10m air rifle standing SH1, Gold)

-Mona Agarwal (Shooting, Women's 10m air rifle standing SH1, Bronze)

-Preethi Pal (Athletics, Women's 100m T35, Bronze)

-Manish Narwal (Shooting, Men's 10m air pistol SH1, Silver)

-Rubina Francis (Shooting, Women's 10m Air Pistol SH1, Bronze)

-Preethi Pal (Shooting, Women's 10m Air Pistol SH1, Bronze)

-Nishad Kumar (Athletics, Men's high jump T47, Silver)

-Yogesh Kathuniya (Athletics, Men's discus throw F56, Silver)

-Nitesh Kumar (Badminton, Men's singles SL3, Gold)

-Thulasimathi Murugesan (Badminton, Women's singles SU5, Silver)

-Manisha Ramadass (Badminton, Women's singles SU5, Bronze)

-Suhas Yathiraj (Badminton, Men's singles SL4, Silver)

-Rakesh Kumar / Sheetal Devi (Archery, Mixed team compound open, Bronze)

-Sumit Antil (Athletics, Javelin throw F64, Gold)

-Nithya Sre Sivan (Badminton, Women's singles SH6, Bronze)

-Deepthi Jeevanji (Athletics, Women's 400m T20, Bronze)

-Mariyappan Thangavelu (Athletics, Men's high jump T63, Bronze)

-Sharad Kumar (Athletics, Men's high jump T63, Silver)

-Ajeet Singh (Athletics, Men's javelin throw F46, Silver)

-Sundar Singh Gurjar (Athletics, Men's javelin throw F46, Bronze)

-Sachin Khilari (Athletics, Men's shot put F46, Silver)

-Harvinder Singh (Archery, Men's individual recurve open, Gold)

-Dharambir (Athletics, Men's club throw F51, Gold)

-Parnav Soorma (Athletics, Men's club throw F51, Silver)

-Kapil Parmar (Judo, Men's -60kg J1, Bronze)

-Praveen Kumar (Athletics, Men's high jump T64, Gold)

-Hokato Hotozhe Sema (Athletics, Men's shot put F57, Bronze)

-Simran (Athletics, Women's 200m T12, Bronze)

-Navdeep Singh (Athletics, Men's javelin throw F41, Gold). (ANI)

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