Haryana para athletics rule team India at world meet

CHANDIGARH: Adding to

Haryana's reputation

as

India's medal factory

, the state has given the maximum number of players for the

Indian squad

participating in the World Para Athletics Championship 2017 in London. The Paralympic Committee of India has selected a 31-member squad of which 17 are from Haryana.

The meet will be held between July 14 and 23 and the Indian team is already attending camps in Bangalore and Gandhinagar. During last year's Rio Paralympic, Haryana had sent 10 players to the 19-member squad, the highest from any state.

Among the para athletes going to London this time are

Amit Saroha and Deepa Malik

. Saroha had clinched silver at the last

World Para Athletic Championship

in France in 2015 while Maklik won silver in Rio.

Jagdeep Singh, director, sports of Haryana said, “We have produced some fine para athletes in recent years.Whether it was Rio or Lyon, we had the maximum players in the squad and they won the medals as well. This time too, our players will give an outstanding performance. To promote the athletes, we have the same cash awards for para athletes as well as general players.“ “The selected players come from the different districts of Haryana. Many of them have been practicing with general players as there is no separate infrastructure of para players,“ says Giriraj Singh, general secretary of the Paralympic Committee of Haryana, who is also a former Dhyan Chand awardee.

Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.