India competed at the 1972 Summer Paralympics held in Heidelberg from 2 to 11 August 1972. The nation made its official debut at the last Paralympic Games in 1968. This was India's second consecutive appearance at the Summer Games for the disabled. India sent a contingent consisting of ten athletes for the Games and won a single gold medal.
Background The ninth International Stoke Mandville Games was later designated as the first Paralympics in 1960 and the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation organized the 1972 Games. India made its Paralympics debut in the previous Games in 1968. India sent ten competitors including seven males and three females.
Medalist India won its first ever Paralympic medal when Murlikant Petkar won the gold medal in the men's 50 meter freestyle event.
Medal Name Sport Event Gold Murlikant Petkar Swimming Men's 50 m freestyle 3
Competitors The Indian contingent for the Games consisted of ten athletes who competed across five sports. SportMenWomenTotal Archery 0 1 1 Athletics 6 2 8 Swimming 1 0 1 Table tennis 2 0 2 Weightlifting 1 0 1 Total 7 3 10
Archery
AthleteEventScoreRank Patel Women's St. Nicholas round paraplegic318
Athletics
Track AthleteEventHeatFinalResultRankResultRankChandrashekhar Men's 100 m 21:28.4022 colspan="2" Magan Gina Men's 100 m 348.8041 colspan="2" Murlikant Petkar Men's slalom 3 colspan="2" 1:20.1026
Field AthleteEventResultPointsRank Diwan Men's shot put 22.72 24Makandi Men's shot put 44.25 36Men's precision javelin open 168Murlikant Petkar 2655 Men's javelin 315.07 15 Men's shot put 36.20 12Patel Women's precision javelin open 1251 Women's javelin 36.08 30 Women's shot put 32.88 30Poudwal Men's javelin 58.10 26 Men's shot put 53.95 28Shehrnaz Kermani Women's precision javelin open 2741 Women's discus throw 37.43 27 Women's javelin 37.05 26 Women's shot put 33.31 27
Swimming
Murlikant Petkar became the first Indian Paralympic medalist when he won a gold medal in swimming. Hailing from Maharashtra, he was part of the Indian Army. He was injured in the 1965 India-Pakistan War when he was hit by multiple bullets. He started swimming as an exercise to improve mobility in the injured leg muscles. He set a new World Record when he won the gold medal in the freestyle 3 event. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India's third highest civilian honor for his achievement.
AthleteEventHeatFinalResultRankResultRankMurlikant PetkarMen's 50 m freestyle 3colspan="2" 37.33
Table tennis
Athlete/TeamEventGroup StageQuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinal / OppositionResultOppositionResultRankOppositionResultOppositionResultOppositionResultRankIndiaMen's teams 3 L 0–3 L 0–33colspan="4"
Weightlifting
AthleteEventResultRankMakandiMen's featherweight756
Notes
References