India at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

India at the 2020 Summer Paralympics
IPC code	IND
NPC	Paralympic Committee of India
Website	www.paralympic.org.in
in Tokyo, Japan
Competitors	54 in 9 sports
Flag bearer (opening)	Tek Chand
Flag bearer (closing)	Avani Lekhara [1]
Medals Ranked 24th	Gold 5 Silver 8 Bronze 6 Total 19
Summer Paralympics appearances (overview)
1968 1972 1976–1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024

India competed in the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, from 24 August to 5 September 2021. Indian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Paralympics since 1984, though they made their official debut at the 1968 Summer Paralympics. This was India's most successful Paralympic season with 5 golds 8 silvers and 6 bronzes (total 19). Before this edition, India had won 12 medals (4 medals of each color) of all previous Paralympics appearances combined.

Table tennis player Bhavina Patel won India's first olympics (Paralympic) medal in Table Tennis. ^[2] Shooter Avani Lekhara scripted history as she became the first Indian to win a medal in Shooting in the Paralympics. She also became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal and become multiple medalist in Paralympics. ^[3] Another shooter Singhraj Adhana won two medals - Silver in Mixed 50m pistol SH1 category and Bronze in Men's 10m air rifle SH1 category. ^[4]

Archer Harvinder Singh became the first Indian to win a medal in Archery at the olympics (Paralympic). He won a bronze medal in Men's Recurve Individual. ^[5] In badminton Indian shuttler won a record number of medals including two golds (Pramod Bhagat - Men's singles SL3, Krishna Nagar - Men's singles SH6) one silver (Suhas Yathiraj - Men's Singles Badminton SL4) and one bronze (Manoj Sarkar - Men's Singles Badminton SL3). Mariyappan Thangavelu and Devendra Jhajharia won consecutive medals in their respective category (they both won gold in Rio 2016). They both won silver medals. Devendra's silver at the Tokyo Games took his overall individual tally to three medals and he's now level with legendary Paralympian Joginder Singh Bedi who also has three medals to his name at the Paralympic Games. ^[6] In Javelin throw F64 another Indian Sumit Antil won agold medal (68.55 m) with new world record.

Indian discus thrower Vinod Kumar lost his F52 category bronze medal after being found ineligible in the disability classification assessment. ^[7] Mariyappan Thangavelu was originally the flag bearer but because of quarantine, the flag bearer was changed to Tek Chand. ^[8]

Medalists

Main article: 2020 Summer Paralympics medal table

Medal Name Sport Event Date  Gold Avani Lekhara Shooting Women's R2 10 metre air rifle standing SH1 30 August  Gold Sumit Antil Athletics Men's javelin throw F64 30 August  Gold Manish Narwal Shooting Mixed P4 50 metre pistol SH1 4 September  Gold Pramod Bhagat Badminton Men's singles SL3 4 September  Gold Krishna Nagar Men's singles SH6 5 September  Silver Bhavina Patel Table tennis Women's individual class 4 29 August  Silver Nishad Kumar Athletics Men's high jump T47 29 August  Silver Yogesh Kathuniya Men's discus throw F56 30 August  Silver Devendra Jhajharia Men's javelin throw F46 30 August  Silver Mariyappan Thangavelu Men's high jump T63 31 August  Silver Praveen Kumar Men's high jump T64 3 September  Silver Singhraj Adhana Shooting Mixed P4 50 metre pistol SH1 4 September  Silver Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj Badminton Men's singles SL4 5 September  Bronze Sundar Singh Gurjar Athletics Men's javelin throw F46 30 August  Bronze Singhraj Adhana Shooting Men's P1 10 metre air pistol SH1 31 August  Bronze Sharad Kumar Athletics Men's high jump T63 31 August  Bronze Avani Lekhara Shooting Women's R8 50 metre Rifle 3 positions SH1 3 September  Bronze Harvinder Singh Archery Men's individual recurve open 3 September  Bronze Manoj Sarkar Badminton Men's singles SL3 4 September

Medals by Sport, Gender and Day

Medals by Sport Sport Total Shooting 2 1 2 5 Badminton 2 1 1 4 Athletics 1 5 2 8 Table tennis 0 1 0 1 Archery 0 0 1 1 Total 5 8 6 19

Medals by Gender Gender Total Male 4 7 5 16 Female 1 1 1 3 Total 5 8 6 19

Medals by Day Day Date Total 5 29 August 0 2 0 2 6 30 August 2 2 1 5 7 31 August 0 1 2 3 10 3 September 0 1 2 3 11 4 September 2 1 1 4 12 5 September 1 1 0 2 Total 5 8 6 19

Competitors

This year India sent its largest contingent of all time.

Sport	Men	Women	Total
				Archery	4	1	5
Athletics	20	4	24
Badminton	5	2	7
Paracanoeing	0	1	1
Powerlifting	1	1	2
Shooting	8	2	10
Swimming	2	0	2
Table Tennis	0	2	2
Taekwondo	0	1	1
Total	40	14	54

Archery

Main articles: Archery at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and Archery at the 2020 Summer Paralympics - Qualification

India archers achieved quota places for the following events from the 2019 World Para Archery Championships.

Harvinder Singh and Vivek Chikara became the first male archers from the country to qualify for the games. They achieved this feat by finishing in the Top 16 in the World Championship. Rakesh Kumar and Shyam Sundar Swami also qualified from the World Championship. ^[9] Jyoti Baliyan got the Bipartite Commission invitation to participate in the tournament.

Men

Athlete	Event	Ranking round		Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
		Score	Seed	Opposition score	Opposition score	Opposition score	Opposition score	Opposition score	Opposition score	Rank
Harvinder Singh	Individual Recurve Open	600	21	—	Travisani  (ITA) W 6–5	Tsydendorzhiev  (RPC) W 6–5	Szarszewski  (GER) W 6–2	Mather  (USA) L 4–6	Kim M-s  (KOR) W 6–5
Vivek Chikara		609	10		Megahamulea  (SRI) W 6–2	Phillips  (GBR) L 3–7	Did not advance			9
Rakesh Kumar	Individual Compound Open	699	3	Bye	Ngai KC  (HKG) W 144–131	Marecak  (SVK) W 140–137	Ai Xl  (CHN) L 143–145	Did not advance		5
Shyam Sundar Swami		682	21	Bye	Stutzman  (USA) L 139–142	Did not advance				17

Women

Athlete	Event	Ranking round		Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
		Score	Seed	Opposition score	Opposition score	Opposition score	Opposition score	Opposition score	Rank
Jyoti Baliyan	Individual Compound Open	671	15	Leonard  (IRL) L 137–141	Did not advance				17

Mixed

Athlete	Event	Ranking Round		Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
		Score	Seed	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Jyoti Baliyan Rakesh Kumar	Compound Mixed Team Open	1370	6	Thailand  (THA) W 147–141	Turkey  (TUR) L 151–153	Did not advance		5

Athletics

Main articles: Athletics at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and Athletics at the 2020 Summer Paralympics – Qualification

The following Indian athletes achieved the quota places by finishing in the top 4 at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championship in Dubai, Qualification Ranking Allocation, Qualification Ranking Allocation, and High-Performance Allocation.

India secured qualification through World Championship and via World Rankings.

The Paralympic Committee of India announced the final list of the athletes after completing the selection trials in New Delhi. ^[10]

Key

• NM = No Mark
• Q = Qualified for the next round
• WR = World record
• AR = Area (Asian) Record
• SB = Season best
• PB = Personal best
• CNC = Classification not completed
• DNF = Did not finish

Men

Field

Athlete	Event	Final
		Distance	Position
Amit Kumar Saroha	Club Throw F51	27.77 SB	5
Dharambir Nain		25.59 SB	8
Vinod Kumar	Discus Throw F52	CNC	—
Yogesh Kathuniya	Discus Throw F56	44.38 SB
Nishad Kumar	High Jump T47	2.06 AR
Ram Pal		1.94	5
Mariyappan Thangavelu	High Jump T63	1.86 SB
Sharad Kumar		1.83 SB
Varun Singh Bhati		1.77 SB	7
Praveen Kumar	High Jump T64	2.07 AR
Navdeep Singh	Javelin Throw F41	40.80	4
Sundar Singh Gurjar	Javelin Throw F46	64.01 SB
Ajeet Singh		56.15	8
Devendra Jhajharia		64.35 PB
Ranjeet Bhati	Javelin Throw F57	NM	—
Sandeep Chaudhary	Javelin Throw F64	62.20 SB	4
Sumit Antil		68.55 WRSB
Arvind Malik	Shot Put F35	13.48	7
Soman Rana	Shot Put F57	13.81	4
Tek Chand	Shot Put F55	9.04	8

Women

Track

Athlete	Event	Heat		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Simran Sharma	100m T13	12.69 SB	5	Did not advance

Field

Athlete	Event	Final
		Distance	Position
Kashish Lakra	Club Throw F51	12.66 SB	6
Ekta Bhyan		8.38 SB	8
Bhagyashri Jadhav	Shot Put F34	7.00 PB	7

Badminton

Main articles: Badminton at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and Badminton at the 2020 Summer Paralympics – Qualification

Badminton made its debut at the Paralympic Games. Following Indian shuttlers qualified for the games based on qualification rankings or bipartite invitation. ^{[11] [12] [13]}

Men

Athlete	Event	Group Stage				Semifinal	Final / BM
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Pramod Bhagat	Singles SL3	Sarkar  (IND) W (21–10, 21–23, 21–9)	Chyrkov  (UKR) W (21–12, 21–9)	—	1 Q	Fujihara  (JPN) W (21–11, 21–16)	Bethell  (GBR) W (21–14, 21–17)
Manoj Sarkar		Bhagat  (IND) L (10–21, 23–21, 9–21)	Chyrkov  (UKR) W (21–16, 21–9)		2 Q	Bethell  (GBR) L (8–21, 10–21)	Fujihara  (JPN) W (22–20, 21–13)
Tarun Dhillon	Singles SL4	Teamarrom  (THA) W (21–7, 21–13)	Shin K-h  (KOR) W (21–18, 15–21, 21–17)	Setiawan  (INA) L (19–21, 9–21)	2 Q	Mazur  (FRA) L (16–21, 21–16, 18–21)	Setiawan  (INA) L (17–21, 11–21)	4
Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj		Pott  (GER) W (21–9, 21–3)	Susanto  (INA) W (21–6, 21–12)	Mazur  (FRA) L (15–21, 17–21)	2 Q	Setiawan  (INA) W (21–9, 21–15)	Mazur  (FRA) L (21–15, 17–21, 15–21)
Krishna Nagar	Singles SH6	Taresoh  (MAS) W (22–20, 21–10)	Tavares  (BRA) W (21–17, 21–14)	—	1 Q	Coombs  (GBR) W (21–10, 21–11)	Chu MK  (HKG) W (21–17, 16–21, 21–17)

Women

Athlete	Event	Group Stage			Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final / BM
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Parul Parmar	Singles SL4	Cheng Hf  (CHN) L (8–21, 2–21)	Seibert  (GER) L (21–23, 21–19, 15–21)	3	—	Did not advance
Palak Kohli	Singles SU5	Suzuki  (JPN) L (4–21, 7–21)	Bağlar  (TUR) W (21–12, 21–18)	2 Q	Kameyama  (JPN) L (11–21, 15–21)	Did not advance
Parul Parmar Palak Kohli	Doubles SL3–SU5	Cheng Hf / Ma Hh  (CHN) L (7–21, 5–21)	Morin / Noël  (FRA) L (12–21, 20–22)	3	—	Did not advance

Mixed

Athlete	Event	Group Stage			Semifinal	Final / BM
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Pramod Bhagat Palak Kohli	Doubles SL3–SU5	Mazur / Noël  (FRA) L (9–21, 21–15, 19–21)	Teamarrom / Saensupa  (THA) W (21–15, 21–19)	2 Q	Susanto / Oktila  (INA)  L (3–21, 15–21)	Fujihara / Sugino  (JPN) L (21–23, 19–21)	4

Paracanoeing

Main article: Paracanoeing at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

Women

Prachi Yadav became India's first Paracanoe athlete at the Tokyo Paralympics. She got quota after finishing 8th in ICF Championship 2019. ^[14]

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinals		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Prachi Yadav	VL2	1:11.098	4 SF	1:07.397	3 Q	1:07.329	8

Powerlifting

Main articles: Powerlifting at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and Powerlifting at the 2020 Summer Paralympics – Qualification

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, he has represented the country at the 2012 Games in Athletics.

Athlete	Event	Score	Rank
Jaideep Deswal	Men's 65 kg	—	—
Sakina Khatun	Women's 50 kg	93	5

Shooting

Main articles: Shooting at the 2020 Summer Paralympics and Shooting at the 2020 Summer Paralympics – Qualification

Indian shooters achieved quota places for the following events by their best finishes at the 2018 World Shooting Para Sport Championships, 2018 World Shooting Para Sport World Cup, Châteauroux, 2019 World Shooting Para Sport World Cup, Al Ain, and 2019 World Shooting Para Sport Championships, Sydney. Each athlete from each NPC must at least aim to score targets in each medalling event in the qualifying tournaments.

Manish Narwal and Deepender Singh became the first Indian Para Pistol shooter to qualify for the Paralympic Games after winning gold and silver medal at the 2018 World Shooting Para Sport World Cup, Châteauroux. ^[15] Later Singhraj also joined them by securing a berth in the mixed pistol event. Avani Lekhera becomes the first female shooter to secure a Paralympic berth for India. ^[16] Swaroop Mahavir Unhalkar secured another quota in the rifle from the 2019 World Shooting Para Sport Championships, Sydney. Later Siddhartha Babu also secured qualified from the same tournament. Deepak Saini, Rahul Jakahar, Akash, and Rubina Francis secured the quota places from the 2021 Para Sport World Cup, Lima. ^[17]

Paralympic Committee of India, on 8 July 2021 announced the 10-member Indian Team for the Tokyo 2021 games. ^[18]

Men

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Manish Narwal	P1 – 10 m air pistol SH1	575	1 Q	135.8	7
Deepender Singh		560	10	Did not advance
Singhraj Adhana		569	6 Q	216.8
Swaroop Mahavir Unhalkar	R1 – 10 m air rifle standing SH1	615.2	7 Q	203.9	4
Deepak Saini		592.6	20	Did not advance
	R7 - 50 m rifle 3 positions SH1	1114	18	Did not advance

Women

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Rubina Francis	P2 – 10 m air pistol SH1	560	7 Q	128.5	7
Avani Lekhara	R2 – 10 m air rifle SH1	621.7	7 Q	249.6 EWR/PR
	R8 – 50 m rifle 3 positions SH1	1176	2 Q	445.9

EWR- Equalled world record; PR- Paralympic record

Mixed

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Rahul Jakhar	P3 - 25 m pistol SH1	576-14x	2 Q	12	5
Akash		551-11x	20	Did not Advance
Manish Narwal	P4 – 50 m pistol SH1	533-7x	7 Q	218.2 PR
Singhraj Adhana		536-4x	4 Q	216.7
Akash		507-3x	27	Did not Advance
Deepak Saini	R3 – 10 m air rifle prone SH1	624.9	43	Did not advance
Sidhartha Babu		625.5	40	Did not advance
Avani Lekhara		629.7	27	Did not advance
Avani Lekhara	R6 – 50 m rifle prone SH1	612	28	Did not advance
Deepak Saini		602.2	46	Did not advance
Sidhartha Babu		617.2	9	Did not advance

Swimming

Main article: Swimming at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

One Indian swimmer has successfully entered the Paralympic slot after Suyash Jadhav achieved the MQS. Later, Niranjan Mukundan received bi-partite invitation. ^{[19] [20]}

Men

Athlete	Event	Heat		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Niranjan Mukundan	50m Butterfly S7	33.82	6	Did not advance
Suyash Jadhav		32.36	5	Did not advance
	100m Breaststroke SB7	—		DSQ	—
	200m Individual Medley SM7	DNS		Did not advance

DNS - Did not start; DSQ- Disqualified

Table tennis

Main article: Table tennis at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

India entered two athletes into the table tennis competition at the games. Bhavina Hasmukhbhai Patel and Sonalben Manubhai Patel qualified via overall Rankings allocation. ^{[21] [22]}

Women

Athlete	Event	Group Stage			Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Sonal Patel	Individual C3	Li Q  (CHN) L 2–3	Lee M-g  (KOR) L 1–3	3	Did not advance
Bhavina Patel	Individual C4	Zhou Y  (CHN) L 0–3	Shackleton  (GBR) W 3–1	2 Q	de Oliveira  (BRA) W 3–0	Perić-Ranković  (SRB) W 3–0	Zhang M  (CHN) W 3–2	Zhou Y  (CHN) L 0–3
Sonal Patel Bhavina Patel	Team C4-5	—				China  (CHN) L 0–2	Did not advance

Taekwondo

Main article: Taekwondo at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

India qualified one athlete to compete at the Paralympics competition. Aruna Tanwar received the bipartite commission invitation allocation quotas for women's – 49 kg events. ^[23] Aruna withdrew before her repechage round match due to a hairline fracture.

Women

Athlete	Event	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Repechage 1	Repechage 2	Final
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Aruna Tanwar	K44 −49 kg	Jovanovic  (SRB) W 29–9	Espinoza  (PER) L 21–84	Did not advance	Fataliyeva  (AZE) Lw/o	Did not advance

See also

• India at the Paralympics
• India at the 2020 Summer Olympics

References

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3. "Avani Lekhara becomes first Indian woman to win 2 Paralympic medals". The Times of India. 3 September 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
4. "Tokyo Paralympics: Manish Narwal Wins Gold, Silver For Singhraj Adhana In 50m Mixed Pistol (SH1)". NDTVSports.com. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
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6. "3 Paralympics, 3 medals, 2 Gold, 1 Silver - Devendra Jhajharia is India's GOAT para-athlete". The Bridge. 30 August 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
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12. "Pramod Bhagat, Nagar Krishna, Tarun qualify for Paralympics badminton event". The Indian Express. 9 June 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
13. Gupta, Gaurav (16 July 2021). "Tokyo Paralympics: Shuttlers Suhas Yathiraj, Manoj Sarkar get bipartite quotas; India to send seven-member badminton team". The Times of India. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
14. Mirza, Firoz (19 May 2021). "Qualification done, Prachi Yadav eyes Target Olympic Podium Scheme & exposure trip". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
15. "Tokyo 2020 Qutoa Allocation after the Châteauroux 2018 World Shooting Para Sport World Cup" (PDF). Tokyo 2020 Quota Allocation after the Châteauroux 2018 World Shooting Para Sport World Cup. 25 February 2019.
16. "Quota Allocation after the Al Ain 2019 World Cup" (PDF). Quota Allocation After the al Ain 2019 World Cup. 25 February 2019.
17. "World records wrap up the Lima 2021 World Cup". International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
18. "List of Para Shooters to participate at Paralympics Tokyo 2020".
19. "Calculation of Swimming Slots for Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games" (PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 24 April 2020.
20. "2020 Summer Paralympics Qualification Guide" (PDF). International Paralympic Committee. 17 November 2020.
21. "2019 Para Table Tennis Calendar". International Table Tennis Federation. 16 March 2019.
22. Shastri, Parth; Cherian, Sabu (3 July 2021). "Girl power from Gujarat in Tokyo-bound India contingent". The Times of India. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
23. "Aruna Tanwar set to be India's first ever taekwondo entry at Tokyo Paralympics". The Times of India. 9 June 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2021.