India has set an outstanding record and history in Indian Paralympics bagging 19 medals that included five Gold, 8 Silver and six bronze medals whereas in Tokyo Olympics it won in all 7 medals with one Gold two silver and four Bronze medals.
This is indeed a historic record of India’s best ever tally in single edition of Paralympics till date, raising the Indian tricolour high.
If compared with the past performance of Summer Youth Olympics of 2018, and past Paralympics winning tally since 1972, India’s current performance in Paralympics and subsequent bagging of total 19 medals is India’s best medal tally at a multi sport world event.
While in Paralympics Indian athletes have made history by bagging 19 medals with five Golds, in Tokyo Olympics too India’s total tally of seven medals with a single Gold is also rated as best ever tally in Olympics.
It may be recalled that in the previous Paralympics i. e. in 1972 India won the first and individual Gold medal in 1972 when Murlikant Petwar by swan the 50 metre free style in the world record time in 37.331 seconds, with India gaining 27 th position.
In 1984 India won Silver in Shotput followed by two bronze in Discus and Javeline throw coming in 37 th position out of 54 participating nations.
Thereafter, India’s participation continued in each paralympic games but failed to make an impact till 2004 games when Davendra Jhajharia javeline thrower won Gold and Rajinder Singh Ruhela the Bronze in 56 kg powerlifting.
In this paralympics India came in 53 rd position out of 136 participating countries. In 2020 Paralympics, India made history by winning 19 medals that included five Golds, eight Silvers and six bronze, the detail of which is as below
: Avani Lakhera, Gold- Women’s ten metre Air Rifle, Standing Shooting 1Pramod Bhagat, Gold- Men’s Singles SL3 badminton, Krishna Nagar- Gold – Men’s singles SH6 badminton Sumit Antil – Gold – Men’s Javelin Throw F64 Manish Narwal – Gold – Mixed 50m Pistol SH1
Bhavinaben Patel – Silver – Women’s Singles Class 4 Table Tennis Singhraj – Silver – Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 Yogesh Kathuniya – Silver – Men’s Discus F56 Nishad Kumar – Silver – Men’s High Jump T47 Mariyappan Thangavelu – Silver – Men’s High Jump T63 Praveen Kumar – Silver – Men’s High Jump T64 Devendra Jhajharia – Silver – Men’s Javelin F46 Suhas Yathiraj – Silver – Men’s Singles Badminton SL4.
Meanwhile prime minister Narendra Modi has said that in the history of Indian sports, the Tokyo Paralympics will always have a special place. He said Every member of our contingent is a champion and source of inspiration.
The Prime Minister appreciated the coaches, support staff and families of our athletes for their constant support to the players. He also lauded the people of Japan, particularly Tokyo and the Japanese Government for their exceptional hospitality, eye for detail and spreading the much needed message of resilience and togetherness through these Olympics.
In a series of tweets, the Prime Minister said;
“In the history of Indian sports, the Tokyo #Paralympics will always have a special place. The games will remain etched in the memory of every Indian and will motivate generations of athletes to pursue sports. Every member of our contingent is a champion and source of inspiration.
The historic number of medals India won has filled our hearts with joy. I would like to appreciate the coaches, support staff and families of our athletes for their constant support to the players. We hope to build on our successes to ensure greater participation in sports.
Like I had said earlier, the people of Japan, particularly Tokyo and the Japanese Government, must be lauded for their exceptional hospitality, eye for detail and spreading the much needed message of resilience and togetherness through these Olympics.”
Featured pic: Scroll
