Cricket continues to be the predominant sport in India; however, other sports such as chess, badminton, football, shooting, and athletics are gaining traction in terms of popularity. Additionally, India has shown significant improvement in its performances in Paralympic sports. At the 2024 Paralympics held in France, the country secured seven gold medals, nine silver medals, and 13 bronze medals.

India's delegation comprised 84 athletes competing in 12 different sports during the 2024 Paralympics. Bhagyashree Jadhav and Sumit Antil served as the flag bearers for India during the opening ceremony, while Preethi Pal and Harvinder Singh took on this role during the closing ceremony. With a total of 29 medals, India achieved its highest-ever medal count in the history of the Paralympic Games, surpassing the previous record of 19 medals earned at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

Manasi Joshi trolls Team India

Indian para-badminton athlete Manasi Joshi recently addressed her concerns on X, previously known as Twitter, urging the Indian government to increase its investment in para-sports, assuring that such support would yield improved outcomes. She stated, “Please allocate a portion of cricket funding to para-sports. We deliver better results.”

Manasi's recent post follows India's disappointing performances in the ongoing 2024 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where they currently trail Australia 1-2. On the first day of the final Test match on Friday, India's batting woes persisted as they were dismissed for 185 runs. In reply, Australia ended the day at 9/1 in their first innings. Additionally, regular captain Rohit Sharma has been rested for this match, with Jasprit Bumrah stepping in as the acting captain. Bumrah has been the standout performer for India in this series, while the contributions from other players have been inconsistent.

Manasi is a former world champion in the women's singles SL3 category and currently holds the seventh position in the SL3 rankings, as well as second in the SL3-SU5 category. She is also ranked 13th in the XD SL3-SU5 category.

In 2020, she was recognized by the BBC as one of the 100 most inspirational and powerful women globally and was nominated for the BBC Indian Sportswoman of the Year Award for the same year.

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