Who is Bhagyashree Jadhav? All you need to know about Indian-para athlete competing at Paris 2024 Paralympics

Bhagyashree Jadhav is an Indian para-athlete born on May 24, 1985, in Honvadaj, Mukhed taluk, Nanded district, Maharashtra. She pits her strength in the shot put F34 category.

Bhagyashree recently has been conferred with the honor of being a flag bearer along with the javelin throw star, Sumit Antil, for India at the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympics. This will be her second Paralympic Games.

Bhagyashree Jadhav turned to para-athletics after a life-changing accident in 2006 that left her in a wheelchair, fighting depression. Her life took a turn for the better when Marathi journalist Prakash Kamble motivated her to do sports in a wheelchair. She started taking sports seriously in 2017 and did not take long to make a name, as she won two golds and a bronze at the Mayor's Cup in Pune in 2017.

From here, she took her run to the greater world of para-athletics when she represented India at the 2019 World Para Athletics Games in China and brought home two bronze medals.

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A look at Bhagyashree Jadhav's career that took her to Paris 2024 Paralympics

In 2021, Bhagyashree Jadhav added another bronze medal to her stats at the Feja World Cup, adding credibility to being one of the probable strong contenders globally.

Bhagyashree finally stamped her class with a silver medal in the F34 shot put event at the 2022 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, China. She had a throw of 7.54 proving why she remains one of the top para-athletes of India.

She qualified for the finals and finished seventh in the world with a lot of grit and some fantastic work on the biggest stage of all: the Tokyo Paralympics. The inspiring story of grit, talent, and an indomitable spirit continues as she gears up for the Paris Paralympics 2024.

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