With the Paris 2024 Paralympics well underway, fans can now find out more about the different sporting disciplines and their various classifications along with the full form of the categories
The Paralympics features different classification of each sport to evaluate the extent of the impact of a para-athlete’s impairment(s) to their movements and functions.
Paris Paralympics 2024 sports disciplines, categories list, events, disabilities and classificationsย meaning and full form
As a result, para-athletes are assigned with a classification based on the degree and nature of their eligible impairments.
This brings about a sense of fairness among the para-athletes as they get classified into a category with others who have similar functional abilities. ย Given below is a breakdown of the different sporting disciplines and their various classifications and participating para-athletes:
Para Archery
The event features the following classifications:
Open class, recurve (Harvinder Singh)
The targets are placed about 70m away, and features para-archers who have a disability but can shoot in standing position.
Open class, compound (Sheetal Devi)
This classification is for archers who shoot from a sitting position at a target placed at 50m.
Para Athletics
โTโ represents track and jump events, while โFโ denotes field events
T11-13 (Rakshita Raju, 1500m)
Para-athletes with a vision impairment.
T20 (Deepthi Jeevanji, 400m)
Para-athletes with intellectual impairment.
T31-38 (Preethi Pal: 100m and 200m)
Para-athletes with coordination impairments.
F40-47 (Navdeep [F47] and Rinku Hooda [F46], Javelin Throw)
Para-athletes with short height or upper or lower limb impairments, or competing with prosthetic implants.
F51-58 (Yogesh Kathuniya, Discus Throw F56)
Para-athletes competing in throwing events in a seated position.
F61-64 (Sumit Antil – Javelin Throw F64)
Para-athletes competing with a prosthetic lower limb.
Para Badminton
โSLโ denotes โstanding/lowerโ while โSUโ stands for โstanding/Upperโ and โSHโ stands for โstanding/short statureโ.
SL3 (Manoj Sarkar and Manasi Joshi, SL3 Singles)
Para-badminton players who can compete in a standing position but have impairments in their lower limbs or have balancing issues while walking or running.
SL4 (Sukant Kadam, SL4 Singles)
Para-athletes with less severe impairments than SL3 but also have lower limb impairments and minor issues while walking or running.
SU5 (Suhas Yathiraj and Palak Kohli, SL3-SU5 Mixed Doubles)
These para-athletes have an impairment in their upper limbs, which could be on the playing or non-playing hand.
SH6 (Krishna Nagar, SH6 Singles)
Para-athletes with short statures who can compete while standing.
Para Canoeing (Yash Kumar, Kayak Single 200m – KL1)
KL1-VL1
Para-athletes with little to no function in their legs as well as trunk.
KL2-VL2 (Prachi Yadav, Va’a Single 200m VL2)
Para-athletes with partial function in their legs and trunk, and who can sit upright in the kayak.
Para Cycling (Arshad Shaikh and Jyoti Gajeriya, C1-3)
Solo
Para-athletes with limited mobility in their limbs or who possess prostheses. This classification features five different subcategories from C1 to C5.
Para Judo
B1
Para-judokas who are completely blind
B2-B3 (Kapil Parmar, 60 kg J1 and Kokila, 48kg J2)
Para-judokas who suffer from vision impairment
Para Powerlifting (Sakina Khatun, Women’s up to 45kg)
Para-powerlifters with functional limitations in their lower limbs or hips and cannot compete in standing weightlifting competitions. The category features 20 weight categories, with 10 each for men and women.
Para Rowing
PR2 Mixed double sculls (Narayana Konganapalle and Anita)
For teams with twoโฏpara-rowersโฏwho can use only their upper body to row. In this category, the seats are fixed so that the para-rowersโฏcan keep their legs straight throughout, while each para-rower has twoโฏoars each.
Para Shooting Sport
The ‘SH’ stands for โshootingโ
SH1 (Avani Lekhara, W 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1)
Para-athletes who can hold their gun and shoot while in a standing or sitting position using a wheelchair or chair.
SH2 (Sriharsha Ramakrishna: Mixed 10m Air Rifle Standing SH2)
Para-athletes who cannot hold their rifles by themselves and need a stand or have an assistant to reload their guns.
Para Swimming
S1-S10 (Suyash Jadhav, 50m butterfly S7)
This classification is reserved for para-swimmers with physical impairments. The bigger the number attached to the S, the less severe the athlete’s impairment is. For example: an S10 para-swimmer will have a lesser degree of impairment as compared to an S2 para-swimmer.
Para Table Tennis
Para table tennis features 11 classes in total with five for sitting and six for standing.
TT1-5 (Bhavinaben Patel and Sonalben Patel, Women’s Singles WS4)
This category is for wheelchair-bound athletes
Para Taekwondo
โKโ represents Kyorugi, meaning sparring in Korean
K44 (Aruna Tanwar, K44 – 47kg)
Para-athletes with an amputated arm (or equivalent loss of function), or with lost toes. Such para-athletes get to compete across the different weight categories.