The Indian contingent has won a total of 19 medals with 5 Golds, 8 Silvers and 6 Bronze medals in the 16th edition of Summer Paralympic games that was held between 24th August and 5th September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. The 19 medal count is higher than the total number of paralympics medals won by India in all the events since its 1st appearance in the 1968 Paralympic games.
i.India has won a total of 12 medals from 1972 to 2016 in Paralympic games, where it had a highest total medal count of 4, both in 2016 and 1984.
ii.4 medals with 2 Gold medals were won by Indian para-athletes in the Para-badminton event, which made its debut in 2020 edition.
iii.A total of 17 athletes have won 19 medals, with 2 athletes – Avani Lekhara & Singhraj Adhana have won 2 medals each
iv.India was ranked 24th in the overall medal tally with 19 medals, while the top 3 positions in the medal tally were occupied by China, Great Britain & USA.
| Ranking | Country | Total Medals |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | China | 207 (96 Gold) |
| 2nd | Great Britain | 124 (41 Gold) |
| 3rd | USA | 104 (37 Gold) |
| 24th | India | 19 (5 Gold) |
- Notably, India had sent its biggest ever contingent of 54 para-athletes to participate in 9 sporting disciplines at the 2020 Paralympic games.
Notable Medal Winners
Shooter Avani Lekhara becomes first Indian woman to win gold at Paralympics: Avani Lekhara had become the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic gold by claiming the top honours in the 10m air rifle standing SH1 event. That was also the first ever shooting medal that India had won in the Games. The 19-year-old finished with a world record equalling total of 249.6, which is also a new Paralympic record.
- She is only the fourth Indian athlete to win a Paralympics gold after swimmer Murlikant Petkar (1972), javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia (2004 and 2016) and high jumper Mariyappan Thangavelu (2016).
- She also won the bronze medal in the women’s 50m 3 position SH-1 event.
- Avani’s achievement made her only the second Indian to win multiple medals at the same Paralympics after Joginder Singh Sodhi, who won three medals at the 1984 Games.
Pramod Bhagat win Gold in Badminton Men’s Singles; Manoj Sarkar wins Bronze medal
The current World Number 1 badminton para-athlete, Pramod Bhagat won the Gold medal in the men’s singles SL3 class while Manoj Sarkar bagged a bronze medal in the Badminton Men’s Singles SL3.This is India’s first medal in badminton at the Paralympics Games.
- Pramod Bhagat won the finals against Britain’s Daniel Bethell to win the gold medal
- Manoj Sarkar defeated Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara in the third place play-off to win the Bronze medal.
Suhas Yathiraj – 1st ever IAS Officer to win Paralympic Medal
India’s Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj won Silver medal in Badminton at the Tokyo Paralympics, to become the 1st ever IAS Officer to win a medal in the Paralympic games.
- Suhas Yathiraj currently serves as the District Magistrate of Gautam Buddh Nagar in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
- In the finals of men’s singles SL4 class, Suhas Yathiraj lost to France’s Lucas Mazur in the decider round.
Bhavinaben Patel creates history, Becomes 1st Indian para-paddler to win silver medal
Indian table tennis player Bhavinaben Patel creates history, becomes the first Indian para-paddler to win silver medal.
Krishna Nagar wins Gold in the inaugural edition of Para-Badminton
India’s 5th gold medal in the Tokyo paralympics came from Krishna Nagar, who won the Badminton Men’s singles SH6 event against Hong Kong’s Chu Man Kai. India has bagged 5 medals with 2 Gold from the Badminton events in 2020 Paralympics.He becomes the first-ever SH6 gold medallist in the history of the Indian Paralympics.
Praveen Kumar wins High Jump Silver medal creating Asian Record
The 18-year-old para-high jumper, Praveen Kumar, won Silver medal in the high jump T64 event creating the Aisan record in Paralympic games.
- Praveen Kumar made his best jump of 2.07m to create the Asian record, while he also broke his personal best of 2.05m which bagged him a Gold medal in 2021 World Para Athletics FAZZA Grand Prix in Dubai.
Manish Narwal wins Gold, while Singhraj Adhana secures Silver medal in Shooting events
The Paralympic Shooting event witnessed India’s Manish Narwal creating a new Paralympics shooting record of 218.2 points in the mixed 50m pistol SH1 event finals by winning gold medal in the event.
- Singhraj Adhana won the Silver medal in the Shooting – P1 – Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 event. Taking the total count to 5 medals for the Indian side, only from shooting events.
Rio Gold Medalist Mariyappan Thangavelu settles for Silver medal in High Jump
2016 Rio Paralympics gold medalist Mariyappan Thangavelu won Silver medal in the Tokyo T42 category high jump event with a best jump of 1.86m, while India’s Sharad Kumar won Bronze with the best jump of 1.83m.
India’s 1st Medal in Archery – won by Harvinder Singh
India’s 1st ever medal in an archery event in Paralympic games was won by Harvinder Singh the current World Number 23. He defeated Korea’s Kim Min Sun in the Bronze medal match of Men’s individual recurve.
- Notably, he was also the 1st para-athlete from India to win a gold medal at a major para competition in the 2018 Asian Games.
List of Indian Medal Winners:
| Athlete | Event | Medal |
|---|---|---|
| Pramod Bhagat | Badminton – Men’s Singles SL3 | Gold |
| Krishna Nagar | Badminton – Men’s Singles SH6 | |
| Sumit Antil | Men’s Javelin Throw – F64 | |
| Avani Lekhara | Shooting – R2 – Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 | |
| Manish Narwal | Shooting – P4 – Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 | |
| Nishad Kumar | Men’s High Jump – T47 (Asian Record) | Silver |
| Mariyappan Thangavelu | Men’s High Jump – T63 | |
| Praveen Kumar | Men’s High Jump – T64 | |
| Yogesh Kathuniya | Men’s Discus Throw – F56 | |
| Devendra Jhajharia | Men’s Javelin Throw – F46 | |
| Suhas Yathiraj | Badminton – Men’s Singles SL4 | |
| Singhraj Adhana | Shooting – P4 – Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 | |
| Bhavina Patel | Table Tennis – Women’s Singles – Class 4 | |
| Avani Lekhara | Shooting – R8 – Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1 | Bronze |
| Singhraj Adhana | Shooting – P1 – Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 | |
| Harvinder Singh | Archery – Men’s Individual Recurve – Open | |
| Sharad Kumar | Athletics – Men’s High Jump – T63 | |
| Sundar Singh Gurjar | Athletics – Men’s Javelin Throw – F46 | |
| Manoj Sarkar | Badminton – Men’s Singles SL3 |
Closing Ceremony
i.Avani Lekhara, India’s 1st woman to win a Gold in Paralympics, was named as India’s flag-bearer for the Closing Ceremony of 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games
ii.At the closing ceremony, Yuriko Koike – Governor of Tokyo passed the Paralympic flag to the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. The French Capital city will host the 17th edition of Paralympic games in 2024.
Note – For the 1st time, a Refugee Paralympic Team (RPT) consisting of 6 athletes (5 Men & 1 Woman) took part in the Tokyo Paralympic Games.
About Paralympics:
- The 1st ever Paralympic games were held in 1960 at Rome, Italy
- Paralympic Symbol consists of 3 ‘Agitos’ (meaning – ‘I Move’)
- Motto of 2020 Tokyo Paralympics – “United by Emotion”
- President of International Paralympic Committee – Andrew Parsons
- President of Paralympic Committee of India – Deepa Malik
