Paralympic Games are the international competitions specially organised for para atheletes. In other words, we can say that “These are the special Olympic Games organised for para athletes. Paralympic Games started in Rome (Italy) in 1960. In Paralympic sports, athletes who participate are grouped into different categories, based on their type of disability such as Physical Impairment, Visual Impairment and Intellectual Disability. In 2016 Paralympic Games in Reo de Janeiro (Brazil), India won 2 gold medals (Mariyappan Thangavelu in Men’s High Jump and Devendra Jhajharia in Men’s Javelin), 1 silver medal (Deepa Malik in Women’s Shot Put) and 1 bronze medal (Varun Singh Bhati in Men’s High Jump). The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) is the global governing body of the paralympic movement. Its purpose is to organise the summer and winter Paralympic Games and act as the International Federation for ten sports, supervising and coordinating World Championships and other competitions.”
Founded on 22 September, 1989 as a non-profit organisation, it is based in Bonn, Germany and aims to develop sports opportunities for all the people with impairment from the beginner to elite level.
Till 2016, the Summer Paralympic Games included 22 sports and 526 medal events, and the Winter Paralympic Games included 5 sports and disciplines and about 72 events. The number and types of events change from one Paralympic Game to another.
