Paralympics 2024: The stars of Tokyo that shone again in Paris

'The first time was so nice, I had to do it twice!'

These were the famous words of Antony Joshua, the two-time heavyweight champion boxer from Britain.

In quite a similar fashion, three of India's Paralympians who won gold at the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago, returned to Paris and proved their mettle once again.

Avani Lekhara, Sumit Antil, and Manish Narwal have shown the world that their previous success was no accident, and have once again vanquished the doubts to scale the summit.

Avani Lekhara: Gold in women's 10m air rifle SH1

At the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, Avani Lekhara, then a teenager, scripted history by winning gold medal in the women's 10m air rifle SH1 category, becoming the first Indian woman gold medalist at the Paralympics.

She then went on to win bronze in the women's 50m three-position air rifle SH1 category as well, making her the first Indian woman to win two medals at a single Paralympics edition.

Cut to Paris, the now 22-year-old para-shooter from Jaipur arrived in Paris on the back of high expectations. And Avani did not disappoint.

She defended her gold medal in the women's 10m air rifle SH1 category and became the first Indian woman paralympic athlete to win back-to-back gold and multiple medals.

With age on her side, Avani Lekhara is poised to become one of the most successful Indian shooters in Paralympic history if she were to stay the course.

Sumit Antil: Gold in men's javelin throw F64

Like Neeraj Chopra, Sumit Antil turned heads at the Tokyo Paralympics by winning gold at the javelin throw F64 event, breaking his world record for the fourth time back then with a colossal 68.62m throw.

At Paris, Sumit was at it again.

He went over and above, once again winning the gold and this time, setting a new Paralympic record with a 70.59m throw.

Sumit, like Neeraj, is already a legend in the Indian track and field circuit and he is destined for bigger things to come in the upcoming years.

Manish Narwal: Silver in men's 10m air pistol SH1

Entering the Tokyo Paralympics as a 19-year-old para-pistol shooter, Manish Narwal won the gold medal in the Mixed team 50m air pistol SH1 category.

Coming into the Paris Olympics, Narwal, ranked fourth in the world in the men's 10m SH1 category, did not disappoint.

He was able to win the silver medal in the men's 10m air pistol SH1 category and missed out on the gold by only a small margin. That said, Narwal does have a promising future laid out in front of him and there is no doubt that he will be a regular name in the para-shooting circuit in the years to come.

Mariyappan Thangavelu returns again

The 2016 Rio Paralympics gold medal winner and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics silver medal winner was once again amongst the podium finishes in Paris. While gold eluded him yet again, he ensured that he was returning with a bronze medal at the least in men's high jump T63 category.

Mariyappan deserves a mention as he became the first Indian para-athlete to win medals at three consecutive Paralympic Games.

There were two other gold medalists from the Tokyo Paralympics who were unable to defend their gold - Pramod Bhagat, who won gold in the men's singles SL-3 category in para-badminton, and Krishna Nagar, gold medalist in the men's singles SH6 category.

The former was unable to participate in the Paris Paralympics due to an 18-month suspension imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) for whereabouts failure.

Meanwhile, Krishna Nagar too was unable to defend his Tokyo gold medal at the Paris Paralympics as he retired from his final group stage match against Thailand’s Natthapong Meechai, effectively ending his chances of progressing further in the competition.

But the other gold medalists have stood tall and have delivered yet again on the biggest of stages.