India at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

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 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
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 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.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3]

The Indian contingent for the games consisted of 54 people across nine sports.^[4] 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.^[5] Shooter Avani Lekhara carried the flag during the closing ceremony.^[6]

Medalists

Main article: 2020 Summer Paralympics medal table

This was India's most successful Paralympic campaign with 19 medals including five gold, eight silver and six bronze medals.^[7] Before this edition, India had won a combined total of 12 medals across all previous Paralympics combined^[8]

Bhavina Patel won India's first medal, a silver in Table Tennis.^[9] 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.^[10] 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.^[11] 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.^[12] 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.^[7]

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.^[7][8] This was Jhajharia third medal, which is the most by an Indian Para athlete in the Paralympic Games along with Joginder Singh Bedi.^[13] 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.^[7][8] 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.^[14]

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

Summary

Medals by sport Sport Gold Silver Bronze 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 day Day Date Gold Silver Bronze 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

Medals by gender Gender Gold Silver Bronze Total Male 4 7 5 16 Female 1 1 1 3 Total 5 8 6 19

Competitors

The Indian contingent for the games consisted of 54 athletes competing across nine sports.^[4]

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 four quota places in the 2019 World Para Archery Championships.^[15] Jyoti Baliyan got the bipartite commission invitation to participate in the tournament.^[4]

Recurve

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	Men's individual	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

Compound

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
Rakesh Kumar	Men's individual	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		Stutzman (USA) L 139–142	Did not advance				17
Jyoti Baliyan	Women's individual	671	15	—	Leonard (IRL) L 137–141					17
Jyoti Baliyan Rakesh Kumar	Mixed team	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 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.^[16]

Track

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

Field

Athlete	Event	Result	Rank
Amit Kumar Saroha	Men's club throw F51	27.77 SB	5
Dharambir Nain		25.59 SB	8
Vinod Kumar	Men's discus throw F52	CNC
Yogesh Kathuniya	Men's discus throw F56	44.38 SB
Nishad Kumar	Men's high jump T47	2.06 AR
Ram Pal		1.94	5
Mariyappan Thangavelu	Men's high jump T63	1.86 SB
Sharad Kumar		1.83 SB
Varun Singh Bhati		1.77 SB	7
Praveen Kumar	Men's high jump T64	2.07 AR
Navdeep Singh	Men's javelin throw F41	40.80	4
Sundar Singh Gurjar	Men's javelin throw F46	64.01 SB
Ajeet Singh		56.15	8
Devendra Jhajharia		64.35 PB
Ranjeet Bhati	Men's javelin throw F57	NM
Sandeep Chaudhary	Men's javelin throw F64	62.20 SB	4
Sumit Antil		68.55 WR
Arvind Malik	Men's shot put F35	13.48	7
Soman Rana	Men's shot put F57	13.81	4
Tek Chand	Men's shot put F55	9.04	8
Kashish Lakra	Women's club throw F51	12.66 SB	6
Ekta Bhyan		8.38 SB	8
Bhagyashree Jadhav	Women's shot put F34	7.00 PB	7

Key

• NM = No Mark
• WR = World record
• AR = Area (Asian) Record
• SB = Season best
• PB = Personal best
• CNC = Classification not completed

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 and seven Indian shuttlers qualified for the games based on qualification rankings or bipartite invitation.^[17][18][19]

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
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	Singles SL4	Cheng Hf (CHN) L (8–21, 2–21)	Seibert (GER) L (21–23, 21–19, 15–21)	3	—
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

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

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.^[20]

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinals		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Prachi Yadav	VL2	1:11.098	4 Q	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.^[4] Sakina became the first-ever female powerlifter from the country to participate in the games. While this was Jaideep's second Paralympics.

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 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.^[21] Avani Lekhara became the first female shooter to secure a Paralympic berth.^[22] 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.^[23] Paralympic Committee of India announced the 10-member Indian Team for the Games on 8 July 2021.^[24]

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

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

Mixed

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

Swimming

Main article: Swimming at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

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.^[25][26]

Athlete	Event	Heat		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Niranjan Mukundan	Men's 50m butterfly S7	33.82	6	Did not advance
Suyash Jadhav		32.36	5
	Men's 100 m breaststroke SB7	—		DSQ
	Men's 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 Patel and Sonal Patel qualified via the overall Rankings.^[27][28]

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	Women's individual C3	Li Q (CHN) L 2–3	Lee M-g (KOR) L 1–3	3	Did not advance
Bhavina Patel	Women's 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	Women's team C4-5	—				China (CHN) L 0–2	Did not advance

Taekwondo

Main article: Taekwondo at the 2020 Summer Paralympics

Aruna Tanwar received the bipartite commission invitation for the Games.^[29] She withdrew during the competition due to injury.

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) L W/O	Did not advance

See also

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