Who is Kapil Parmar? All you need to know about the Indian para-judoka competing at the Paris 2024 Paralympics
Para-judoka, Kapil Parmar, will be aiming to win India a medal at the Paris 2024 Paralympics. Parmar is currently ranked No.1 in the men's J1- 60kg divison in the IBSA Senior World Ranking List. He is one of India's brightest hopes at the upcoming Games in Paris.
Kapil was born in Sehora, Madhya Pradesh. The 24-year-old was born to a tea stall owner. As a young kid he worked with his father to make ends meet. In 2009, he suffered an electric shock from a motor while fetching water near his home.
Kapil then started to observe hindrance in his vision ever since. Though he was prescribled high power spectacles, it did not help much, as Parmar now operates with minimal vision. The para-athlete joined the Indian Blind and Para Judo Association during its formation in 2010. It was there that his career as a para-judoka began.
Kapil Parmar achieved immediate success with several medals in junior categories. His first major accomplishment came when he gold at the 2018 Senior National Championship in Gorakhpur.
Kapil Parmar enters Paris 2024 Paralympics with a string of recent accomplishments
Kapil Parmar burst onto the global sporting scene with a gold medal at the Birmingham 2019 Commonwealth Games Championships. He then clinched the silver medal at the 2023 Para Asian Games in Hangzhou.
He has been in sensational form heading into the Summer Paralympic Games in Paris. Last year, Parmar created history at the 2023 IBSA Judo Grand Prix Alexandria in Egypt. He brought India its first gold medal in a judo grand prix competition.
He followed it with another gold finish at the 2024 BSA Judo Grand Prix in Antalya, Turkey. Kapil Parmar, along with Kokila Kaushiklate, will be one of India's two para-judo athletes at the Paralympics. It is the first time that India will be competing in the blind judo event at an edition of the Paralympic Games.