Paris: Kapil Parmar made history for Indian sport, winning the country’s first medal in para-judo at the Paralympic Games in Paris on Thursday. Parmar won a bronze medal in the Men’s 60kg J1 category in the French Capital.
In the bronze medal match on Thursday, Parmar defeated Elielton de Oliveira of Brazil by an Ippon to claim the third position on the podium. This is the first time that an Indian has won a medal in the para-judo after Parmar became the first judoka from the country to qualify for the Paralympic Games.
Parmar’s bronze medal took India’s tally in the Paralympic Games in Paris to 25 — five gold, nine silver and 11 bronze medals. The country currently occupies the 14th position in the overall medals tally.
The 24-year-old from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Parmar had earlier lost to Iran’s Banitaba Anitaba Khoram Seyed Meysam in the semifinals A, going down by an Ippon in a bout in which he also incurred a penalty. Parmar had earlier reached the last-four stage with a 10-0 win over Marcos Dennis Blanco of Venezuela in the quarterfinals.
Hailing from the village Shivor in Madhya Pradesh, Kapil Parmar had a life-altering accident when he was playing in the fields of his village and accidentally touched a water pump, resulting in a severe electric shock.
He was found unconscious by a villager and taken to the hospital in Bhopal, where he remained in a coma for six months. Despite this setback, Kapil’s love for judo, which he enjoyed playing in school, never waned. He got support from his family despite the limited financial resources of his taxi driver father who also had to support Kapil’s three brothers and a sister.
A silver medallist in the Asian Para Games 2022, Parmar has faced numerous hardships throughout his life. He and his brother used to run a tea stall to support themselves. Even now, Kapil’s brother Lalit remains his main source of financial support, continuing to help him pursue his passion for judo.
Parmar, who picked up has so far won a gold medal in the Commonwealth Championships in 2019 and has bagged gold medals in the IBSA Judo Grand Prix events in Antalaya and Tbilisi in 2024 and in the IBSA Judo Grand Prix Alexandria in 2023.
