Tokyo Paralympics has been a huge success for India as the country earned 19 medals this time around. Every Indian Paralympian performed with their hearts on their shoulders and with a focus on achieving the gold. This performance of the Paralympics should make every Indian proud and happy.
The medal consists of a record 5 gold medals, 8 silver and 6 bronze medals. We start with all the gold medals as Avani Lekhara won her Women’s R2 10m standing air pistol event as she got 249.6 points which was a Paralympic record and in turn, equalled the world record. Our second gold medal came from the excellent performance of Sumit Antil who broke the world record three times to win his Men’s Javelin Throw F64 event. The world record is now set at 68.55 metres. Our third gold medal came from Manish Narwal who competed in the Mixed P4 50 m pistol SH1 event and beat his personal best by earning 218.2 points. Pramod Bhagat and Krishna Nagar won the last two gold medals for India in Badminton. World No.1 Bhagat defeated Daniel Bethell 21-14 21-17 to earn the medal in the Men Singles SL3 event. Krishna won against Chu Man Kai 21-17 16-21 21-17 in a close match today to achieve gold in the Men’s Singles SH6 event.
The silver medals won include Bhavina Patel won India’s first medal in the Women’s individual class 4 event. Nishad Kumar won silver Men’s high jump T47 by achieving an Asian record of 2.06m. Yogesh Kathuniya earned it from his feats in the Men’s discus throw F56 event. Former God medal winner Devendra Jhajharia won silver for Men’s javelin throw F46. Another former gold medallist Mariyappan Thangavelu earned it for Men’s high jump T63. Praveen Kumar achieved it through his performance in the Men’s high jump T64 event. Suhas Yathiraj lost tragically to Lucas Mazur but made his country proud by earning silver in the Men’s singles SL4 event.
The bronze medal winners were Sundar Singh Gurjar who was behind Jhajharia in the Men’s javelin throw F46 event. Adhana won his second medal by achieving it in the Men’s P1 10 metre air pistol SH1 event. Sharad Kumar was behind Thangavelu in the Men’s high jump T63 event. Pokhara also won her second medal in the Women’s R8 50 metre Rifle 3 positions SH1 event. Harvinder Singh was the solitary medal winner among the archers as he earned it in the Men’s individual recurve open. Manoj Sarkar won against Daisuke Fujihara 22-20 21-13 to achieve the bronze after losing to Bethell in the semis.
Every para-athlete who represented India at the Games made the country proud even though they missed the podium as their work and sacrifice to be on that stage can’t be equalled. They achieved those despite odds being stacked against them. The country should always remember their contributions to Indian sports.
