Who is Rampal Chahar? All you need to know about the Indian para-athlete competing in the Paris 2024 Paralympics
With the Paris 2024 Paralympics now underway, India will look towards their star para-athletes like Rampal Chahar to lead the country’s medal charge at the Paralympic Games. The Paris 2024 Paralympics will be played from August 28 to September 8.
35-year-old Rampal, who competes in the men’s high jump T47 event, is a two-time Paralympian. Rampal represented India in both the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Games but is yet to clinch his first Paralympic medal.
Having secured his qualification to the Paris 2024 Paralympics, Rampal Chahar will aim to break his Paralympic medal drought by challenging for a podium finish in the para-athletics event.
Rampal Chahar’s career in brief
Born in a remote village in Sonepat, Haryana, Rampal Chahar met with a horrible accident at the tender age of four when his right arm got caught in an agricultural chopper, resulting in its partial below-elbow amputation.
Rampal picked up an interest in para-athletics after being introduced to it by Paralympian Amit Kumar Saroha. Despite the mishap, Rampal was determined to succeed in life. He completed his full education and secured a job to support his family, all while training in para-athletics.
Rampal Chahar finally quit his full-time job to focus on para-athletics in 2013. In 2015, he broke the national record in a tournament in Ghaziabad.
After immense success in national-level tournaments, he made his international debut in 2016 in the IPC Grand Prix in Tunisia. Clearing a distance of 1.85m, he won a gold medal in the high jump event and secured the ‘A’ level qualification for the Rio 2016 Paralympics.
In his Paralympic debut in Rio 2016, Rampal finished in sixth position. He then took part in the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London, again finishing sixth.
At the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta, Rampal won the silver medal in the T47 category. He then took part in his second Paralympic Games, representing India in Tokyo 2020 and finishing in the fifth position with a jump of 1.94m.
Rampal’s success in the Asian Para Games continued, with the para-athlete winning a silver medal in Hangzhou 2022. However, since then, he has not been able to perform at his best, as he came fifth in both the 2023 and 2024 World Para Athletics Championships.
However, Rampal Chahar has secured a berth in Paris and will look to provide stiff competition to players like fellow Indian para-athlete Nishad Kumar and the USA’s Roderick Townsend for a gold medal in the T47 category.