TOKYO — India ended their journey at the Tokyo Paralympic Games 2020 with an all-time high position securing 19 medals. The 19 medals include five gold, eight silver, and six bronze medals.
With a contingent of 54 para-athletes, this was India’s biggest ever across as many as nine sporting disciplines at the Paralympic Games. The Tokyo Paralympics also saw badminton and taekwondo making their debut. India had sent representatives to both fields.
Since making its first appearance at the Paralympics in 1968, India had won 12 medals in total till the 2016 Rio edition. The country has now massively improved upon that total number by 7 medals at the Tokyo Paralympics 2020 alone.
Out of 162 nations, India has finished 24th in the overall medal tally, while its accomplishment of 19 medals is ranked 20th based on the number of medals.
“In the history of Indian sports, the Tokyo #Paralympics will always have a special place,” said India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet.
“The games will remain etched in the memory of every Indian and will motivate generations of athletes to pursue sports. Every member of our contingent is a champion and source of inspiration.”
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We thank you for the extraordinary Paralympics, which will go down in history as a catalyst & stepping stone for #NewIndia‘s Sporting Culture
Take a look at #TeamIndia‘s achievement at #Paralympics
The sporting event is over but let’s keep the sporting festivities going. pic.twitter.com/OpgX1bHciY
— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) September 5, 2021
Modi said the historic number of medals India won has filled the hearts of Indians with joy.
“I would like to appreciate the coaches, support staff, and families of our athletes for their constant support to the players,” he said.
“We hope to build on our successes to ensure greater participation in sports.”
The Gold medalists from the Indian contingent at Tokyo Paralympics were Avani Lekhara in Women’s 10 meters Air Rifle Standing SH1, Pramod Bhagat in Men’s singles SL3 badminton, Krishna Nagar in Men’s singles SH6 badminton, Sumit Antil in Men’s Javelin Throw F64, and Manish Narwal in Mixed 50 meters Pistol SH1.
India had won a staggering eight silver medals. The ones winning the medals are Bhavinaben Patel in Women’s Singles Class 4 Table Tennis, Singhraj Adhana in Mixed 50 meters Pistol SH1, Yogesh Kathuniya in Men’s Discus F56, Nishad Kumar in Men’s High Jump T47, Mariyappan Thangavelu in Men’s High Jump T63, Praveen Kumar in Men’s High Jump T64, Devendra Jhajharia in Men’s Javelin F46, and, Suhas Yathiraj in Men’s Singles Badminton SL4.
Avani Lekhara in Women’s 50 meters Rifle 3 Positions SH1, Harvinder Singh in Men’s Individual Recurve Archery, Sharad Kumar in Men’s High Jump T63, Sundar Singh Gurjar in Men’s Javelin Throw F46, Manoj Sarkar in Men’s Singles Badminton SL3, and Singhraj Adhana in Men’s 10 meters Air Pistol SH1 won the bronze medals.
The Tokyo Paralympics also saw some Indian medalists breaking and creating some records, namely, Sumit Antil, who went to create a world record in F64 Men’s Javelin (Gold). Lekhara equaled the World Record and made a Paralympic Record in R2 Women’s 10 meters Air Standing SH1 (Gold), with Manish Narwal owning the new paralympic record in P4 Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 (Gold). Nishad Kumar currently holds the Asian Record in Men’s High Jump T47 (Silver), and Praveen Kumar made an Asian Record in Men’s High Jump T64 (Silver).
A few Indian para-athletes also missed out on medals. Swaroop Unhalkar (Para Shooting), Sandeep Chaudhary, Soman Rana, Navdeep (Para-Athletics), and Tarun Dhillon (Para Badminton) finished fourth in their events. On the other hand, Sakina Khatun (Para Powerlifting), Ram Pal, Amit Saroha (Para-Athletics), and Rahul Jakhar (Para Shooting) finished fifth.
(With inputs from ANI)
Edited by Saptak Datta and Ritaban Misra
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