India competed in the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, from 24 August to 5 September 2021. India made its official debut at the 1968 Summer Paralympics and has appeared in every edition of the Summer Paralympics since 1984.
India sent a contingent consisting of 54 athletes competing across nine sports in the Games. Athlete Tek Chand was the flag bearer during the opening ceremony and shooter Avani Lekhara carried the flag during the closing ceremony.
This was India's most successful Paralympic campaign at the time with 19 medals including five gold, eight silver and six bronze medals. Before this edition, India had won a combined total of 12 medals across all previous Paralympics combined.
Background
The Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) was formed in 1994, five years after the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was established in 1989. The ninth International Stoke Mandville Games was later designated as the first Paralympics in 1960. The International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation organized the Paralympic Games till 1984. The 1988 Seoul Paralympics was the first to use the Paralympics name and the event has been held in the same host city as the corresponding Summer Olympic Games since then. The nation made its Paralympics debut in 1968 and have appeared in every edition of the Summer Paralympic Games since 1984. This edition of the Games marked the nation's 12th appearance at the Summer Paralympics.
The Indian contingent for the games consisted of 54 people across nine sports. Athlete Mariyappan Thangavelu was the designated flag bearer during the opening ceremony but was later replaced by Tek Chand due to Covid-19 quarantine regulations. Shooter Avani Lekhara carried the flag during the closing ceremony.
Medalists
This was India's most successful Paralympic campaign with 19 medals including five gold, eight silver and six bronze medals. Before this edition, India had won a combined total of 12 medals across all previous Paralympics combined
Bhavina Patel won India's first medal, a silver in Table Tennis. Avani Lekhara became the first Indian woman paralympic athlete to win a gold medal. She won another bronze medal to become the first Indian woman multiple medalist in Paralympic shooting. Shooter Manish Narwal won another gold medal in 50 m pistol SH1 event and Singhraj Adhana also won two shooting medals, a silver and a bronze. Harvinder Singh became the first Indian to win a medal in Paralympic archery after he won a bronze medal in the men's recurve event. In badminton, Indian shuttlers won four medals including two gold medals by Pramod Bhagat and Krishna Nagar, a silver medal by Suhas Yathiraj and a bronze medal by Manoj Sarkar.
In athletics, India won eight medals including one gold, five silver and two bronze medals. Sumit Antil won a gold medal in Javelin throw F64 with a new world record. Mariyappan Thangavelu (high jump T63) and Devendra Jhajharia (Javelin throw F46) won silver medals to go along with the gold medals they won in the 2016 Games. This was Jhajharia third medal, which is the most by an Indian Para athlete in the Paralympic Games along with Joginder Singh Bedi. Nishad Kumar and Praveen Kumar won silver medals in high jump T47 and high jump T64 respectively. Sharad Kumar (high jump T63) and Sundar Singh Gurjar (Javelin throw F46) won bronze medals. Indian discus thrower Vinod Kumar who won a bronze in the F52 category discus throw event, was later disqualified after being found ineligible in the disability classification assessment.
Summary
Competitors
The Indian contingent for the games consisted of 54 athletes competing across nine sports.
Archery
India archers achieved four quota places in the 2019 World Para Archery Championships. Jyoti Baliyan got the bipartite commission invitation to participate in the tournament.
- Recurve
- Compound
Athletics
The following Indian athletes achieved the quota places by through eligible events and via the Athletics World Rankings. The Paralympic Committee of India announced the final list of the athletes after the selection trials held in New Delhi.
- Track
- Field
Badminton
Badminton made its debut at the Paralympic Games and seven Indian shuttlers qualified for the games based on qualification rankings or bipartite invitation.
- Men
- Women
- Mixed
Paracanoeing
Prachi Yadav was the only Indian para canoe athlete at the Tokyo Paralympics and she achieved the quota after finishing 8th in International Canoe World Championship 2019.
Powerlifting
Sakina Khatun and Jaideep Deswal received the bipartite invitation to participate in the games. Sakina became the first-ever female powerlifter from the country to participate in the games. While this was Jaideep's second Paralympics.
Shooting
Indian shooters achieved quota places for through various qualifying events. Manish Narwal and Deepender Singh became the first shooters to qualify after winning the gold and silver medal respectively at the 2018 World Shooting Para Sport World Cup at Châteauroux and Singhraj Adhana joined them by securing a berth in the mixed pistol event. Avani Lekhara became the first female shooter to secure a Paralympic berth. Swaroop Mahavir Unhalkar and Sidhartha Babu secured quotas in the 2019 World Shooting Para Sport Championships at Sydney. Other shooters secured the remaining quota places at the 2021 Para Sport World Cup held in Lima. Paralympic Committee of India announced the 10-member Indian Team for the Games on 8 July 2021.
- Men
- Women
- Mixed
Swimming
Suyash Jadhav achieved the Minimum qualifying Standard to qualify for the Games. Later, Niranjan Mukundan received bi-partite invitation to participate in the 50 m Butterfly S7 event.
DNS - Did not start; DSQ- Disqualified
Table tennis
India entered two athletes into the table tennis competition at the games. Bhavina Patel and Sonal Patel qualified via the overall Rankings.
Taekwondo
Aruna Tanwar received the bipartite commission invitation for the Games. She withdrew during the competition due to injury.
- Women
See also
- India at the Paralympics
- India at the 2020 Summer Olympics
References
