India at Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, Sunday schedule: Medal events in badminton, Lekhara back in action

A gold and a silver: A recap of all the Indian action on the final day

Tokyo Paralympics 2020 has been historic for India as the athletes already secured a record 17 medals at the event so far. And they have a chance of adding a few more medals on promising final day in the Japanese capital.

The day begins with shooting where Avani Lekhara, who has already scooped two medals in Tokyo, will be back in action in the mixed-gender 50m Rifle Prone SH1 event along with compatriots Sidhartha Babu and Deepak. The trio will look to reach the final and have a shot at a podium finish later in the day.

Badminton action starts early, with the first of the four medal games at 6.15 am. Suhas Yathiraj will hope to add another gold medal to India’s kitty but faces a tough ask against France’s Lucas Mazur, the top seed, in the men’s singles SL4 gold medal match. Mazur leads the head-to-head 7-2 against the Indian.

Tarun will simultaneously be in action in the SL4 bronze medal playoff against Fredy Setiawan. The singles head-to-head for this match-up is 3-1 in favour of the Indian.

Then India’s Krishna Nagar will battle for gold in men’s singles SH6 final, where he will start as the slight favourite on paper against world No 3 Chu Man Kai. The Indian has been in fine form at the event but the Hong Kong shuttler will pose a strong threat. Nagar leads the singles head-to-head 2-1.

The day will conclude for India as Pramod Bhagat, India’s hero on Saturday returns to the court teaming up with Palak Kohli in the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 bronze medal match. It would be a tight battle against a fellow SL3-SU5 pair but will be quite something if the Indians ranked outside top 30 and not a regular pairing on the tour, earn a place in the podium.

With medal tally guaranteed to improve at the very least by two, India will hope to conclude a highly successful Paralympic Games campaign by adding more gloss to the medal tally on the final day.

Later in the day, we will have the closing ceremony at 4.30 pm IST.

Here’s the full Indian schedule for Sunday.

(*: Corrections)