After a disappointing performance at the Rio Olympics by the Indian contingent, the nation can hope for better from the Paralympians, if rankings are any indication.
In fact, Suromitro Basu of Sporkskeeda points out that among the 19 para athletes representing India at the Rio Games, 17 of them are within the top ten in the world in their respective disciplines.
The Olympics which concluded last month yielded just two medals compared to six in the London games despite India sending its largest ever contingent.
Going by the rankings, India has all of the world's top three in T42 High Jump- Mariyappan Thangavelu (1), Varun Singh Bhati (2) and Sharad Kumar (3).
Twenty-year-old Thangavelu, who achieved the top ranking in his first senior year, is incidentally struggling to pay off a loan which his mother took for his medical expenses.
“I might be world number 1, but things back home are pretty bad. My mother is still paying off the debt, and I hardly earn anything so I have nothing to contribute. But sometimes life is bigger than that no? I have a new lease of life and if I don’t use it to bring glory for my nation then what’s the point? If I get gold in Rio, then maybe I can get a job which could pay off this particular loan,” the gold-medal-favourite told Sportskeeda.
"All three of us participate in the same category and we are almost like brothers, hence we don’t see it as competition. Our goal is to win gold, silver, bronze and we have managed that till now," said 21-year-old Bhati who suffered from polio at an early age said.
The other hot favourites to pick up medals include Amit Kumar Saroha (World no 2 Men's Club Throw F51), Sundar Singh Gurjar and Devendra Jhajharia (ranked 2 and 3 in Men's Javelin F46) respectively.