Tokyo Paralympics 2020: Who are the Indian participants?
The Paralympic Games are designed for differently abled athletes. Right after the closure of the postponed Tokyo Olympics, the world has shifted its focus to the Summer Paralympics in Tokyo which has started from today. Paralympics 2020 will conclude on 5th of September.
In India, DD Sports will broadcast the live coverage of the Tokyo Paralympics on all cable and DTH platforms daily, 9 AM onwards. One can also watch the online streaming on Eurosport or Eurosport HD networks that will be available on Discovery plus app. The YouTube channel called the Prasar Bharati is also scheduled to live-stream the Paralympics 2020.
The Paralympic Games date back to 1948 when the British World War II veterans participated in a small event. It had become one of the most-talked-about international sporting events with the turn of the century. Nowadays, thousands of competitors from over a hundred countries participate in both the summer and the winter Paralympics.
India at the Tokyo Paralympics
Indian athletes had first made their appearance at the Paralympics in 1968. However, it has been only since 1984 that they have made their mark and have never missed participating in the Summer Paralympics. This year, badminton and taekwondo are two sports that will be making their debut in the Paralympics. India made sure they get a chance in both of these sports alongside the others. India has sent 43 athletes to compete in nine sports in this year’s Tokyo Paralympics. Let us now look at this year’s Paralympics participants from India.
Archery
Among the men, Harvinder Singh and Vivek Chikara (Recurve individual open) became the first male Indian archers to have qualified for the Paralympics. They achieved this honour by finishing among the top 16 in the World Championship. Following their footsteps, Rakesh Kumar and Shyam Sundar Swami (Compound individual open) have also qualified from the same tournament.
The sole woman archer named Jyoti Baliyan got the invitation from the Bipartite Commission to participate in the compound individual open. All the Indian archers have secured quota places for the following events from the World Archery Para Championships, 2019.
Table Tennis
Bhavina Hasmukhbhai Patel and Sonalben Madhubhai Patel are the two Indian women to qualify for TT via overall ranking.
Taekwondo
Aruna Tanwar became the only athlete to have received the Biparte Commission invitation to compete in the women’s 49 kg event.
Swimming
Two Indians have successfully made it into this year’s Paralympics, namely Niranjan Mukundan (50m butterfly) and Suyash Jadhav (50m butterfly and 200m individual medley).
Badminton
Indian shuttlers have managed to qualify on the basis of Biparte invitation or the world rankings. Among the men, Pramod Bhagat, Manoj Sarkar, Tarun Dhillon, Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj and Krishna Nagar will participate, while Paul Parmar and Palak Kohli will take part in the women’s doubles.
Para-canoeing
Prachi Yadav will become India’s first paracanoe athlete to participate in the Paralympics. She qualified by finishing 8th in the ICF championship, 2019.
Power-lifting
Sakina Khatun has become the first female powerlifter from India to have qualified for the Paralympics, while it is only the second appearance for Jaideep Deswal. They both received the Biparte invitation to be a part of this year’s mega event.
Athletics
The Paralympic Committee of India has chosen a 24-member athletics team (20 male and 4 female athletes) headed by star javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia and high jumper Mariyappan Thangavelu, winners at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. Players will also participate in events like club throw, shot put and discus throw. The committee has also named Sandip Sanjay Sargar (javelin) as their reserved athlete.
Shooting
Indian athletes will take part in men’s, women’s and mixed categories. A total of 10 shooters will represent India this year. Among them, Avani Lekhera becomes the first female Paralympic shooter, while Manish Narwal and Deepender Singh have become the first Indian para-pistol shooters. Others have secured quota places from contesting in the World Shooting Para Sports Championships, 2018 and 2019 as well as Para Sport World Cup, 2021.