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1 Contingent, 54 Athletes, 19 Medals

Before we accept the wonderful performance by the Indian contingent at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, the Indian Paralympics Contingent has displayed their best performance ever in the history of India’s participation at the Paralympics. They returned with 19 Medals, ranking 24th at the end of Tokyo Paralympics 2020.


(Picture from @paralympicindia)


India’s performance was incredible and the Contingent set numerous records at the event. They won 5 Golds, 8 Silvers, and 6 Bronzes, taking India’s total medal tally at the Paralympics till date to 31 medals. India’s performance at the Paralympics was remarkable and will remain an integral part of India’s sporting history.


RECORDS SET

  1. Sumit Antil won the Gold medal in F64 Men’s Javelin to set the new World Record.

  2. Avani Lekhara won the Gold medal and matched the World Record and set a Paralympic Record in R2 Women’s 10m Air Standing SH1.

  3. Manish Narwal won the Gold medal and set a Paralympic Record in P4 Mixed 50m Pistol SH1.

  4. Nishad Kumar won the Silver Medal and set the new Asian Record in Men’s High Jump T47.

  5. Praveen Kumar also won the Silver Medal and set the new Asian Record in Men’s High Jump T64.



SHOOTING


Avani Lekhara had an incredible journey in the Tokyo Paralympics. The 19 year old is the first Indian Woman to win a Gold Medal at the Paralympics. She won a Gold Medal in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 and a bronze in the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1 events.

Manish Narwal won the Gold medal in the mixed 50m Pistol SH1 event to become the third athlete to win a Gold Medal for Indian at the Tokyo Paralympics. The 19 year old broke the World record in his debut Paralympics.

Singhraj Adhana won the Silver medal in Mixed 50m Pistol SH1, leading to India winning both Gold and Silver medals in this event. He further went on to win a Bronze medal in the Men's 10m Air Pistol SH1 event.


TABLE TENNIS

Bhavinaben Patel won the Silver medal in the Women's Singles Class 4 Table Tennis event. Her victory started the winning streak for India and she was also the second Indian athlete to ever win a medal at the Paralympics.

BADMINTON

Pramod Bhagat won the Gold medal at the Men's singles SL3 badminton leading India to win the first ever Gold Medal in Badminton at the Paralympics.

Krishna Nagar also won the Gold Medal at the Men's singles SH6 badminton joining the success of Pramod Bhagat to become the second Indian to win a Gold Medal in Badminton at the Paralympics.

Suhas Yathiraj won the Silver Medal at the Men's Singles Badminton SL4 to become India’s first ever IAS officer to win a medal at the Paralympics.

Manoj Sarkar won the Bronze medal at the Men's Singles Badminton SL3 taking the total medal count in Badminton events to 4.



ATHLETICS

Sumit Antil won the Gold Medal in the Men's Javelin Throw F64. The athlete broke his own World Record in his first throw at the event and then further broke his record again in his second throw. He aims to hit the 80m mark and we hope he reaches it very soon!

Yogesh Kathuniya won the Silver Medal at the Men's Discus F56 event. Nishad Kumar won the Silver Medal at the Men's High Jump T47 event. Mariyappan Thangavelu also won a Silver Medal at the Men's High Jump T63 event.

Praveen Kumar won the Silver Medal in his debut Paralympics at the Men's High Jump T64 event. He set a new Asian record.

Devendra Jhajharia won the Silver Medal at the Men's Javelin F46. Following his Gold Medal victories in the 2004 and 2016 Paralympics, this is his third Paralympic Medal.

Sharad Kumar won the Bronze at the Men's High Jump T63 event. He took part in the event with an injury that occurred during the training sessions and yet did not give up. His determination is an inspiration to many.

Sundar Singh Gurjar won the Bronze Medal in the Men's Javelin Throw F46 event. His success was much awaited after the disappointing incident that took place in 2016 Rio Paralympics.


ARCHERY

Harvinder Singh won the Bronze Medal in the Men's Individual Recurve Archery. He’s the first Indian to win a medal in Archery at the Paralympics.



THE SAD REALITY


The Olympics is usually conducted once every four years and the entire world looks forward to it. The delay due to the Pandemic had increased the enthusiasm towards the event. People are quite active while watching other sports like Cricket, Football, etc and they’ve shown the same excitement during the Olympics.


But when it comes to Paralympics, the interest shown by viewers is comparatively lower and this is something that should change at the earliest. Their success is celebrated but not in a similar manner as to that of the Olympics and that is shameful on every citizen’s part.


If you’ve made it this far in this article, it is most likely that you show a keen interest towards Paralympics and that’s a great thing. Paralympic athletes have equal if not more potential than an Olympic athlete and the recognition they receive should be equal at the least. Being an athlete myself, having to see the biased viewership between Olympics and Paralympics is an upsetting circumstance.


Nevertheless, the Indian Contingent’s performance was remarkable and I’m sure that they’ll continue to perform with the same caliber in the upcoming tournaments as well.



Authored By: Ashika Reddy

Edited By: Megha MS



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