India at Tokyo Paralympics: Medallists, close calls & more – complete results from an epic campaign

A 54-member contingent from India was expected to have a successful Paralympic Games and they delivered in sensational style.

In India’s entire history of Paralympic Games, the total medal tally stood at 12 before the campaign at Tokyo 2020 began. There was a feeling Indian athletes would get close to that tally at the very least, but they ended up winning more medals in one edition than in the country’s entire history. From a total of 19 athletes at Rio Paralympics, India returned with a total of 19 medals at Toyko Paralympics.

And given the number of fourth-place finishes (six in all) and one medal that was taken away, the number could well have been even higher but for some fine margins.

Still, it was a campaign that tore up the history books and set new milestones for India in para sports.

Before Tokyo, India’s medals had come from just three sports. Athletics had accounted for 10 of the 12 medals, with swimming and powerlifting accounting for the other two. At Tokyo, India won historic first-time medals in shooting, table tennis and archery, while adding four more from badminton’s long-awaited debut at the Games.

At the conclusion of Tokyo 2020, India enjoyed their most successful Olympic Games as well as Paralympic Games in history.

While the medal winners will be celebrated, it is important to recognise and, at the very least, record the achievements of every athlete who went to the Paralympic Games. One of the things you always hear associated with the Summer Games is how participation in itself is no mean feat, but it is especially more so in a year like 2021. The pandemic-delayed Games made things challenging in some way or the other for every athlete to took part across Tokyo 2020.

On that note, we take a look at the overall results from every event featuring an Indian athlete at the Tokyo Paralympics:

Archery

Recovering from a less than ideal qualifying round, Harvinder Singh went on to create history for Indian archery with a bronze medal in recurve individual (open). And what a thrilling ride he took to get there, winning three shootoffs in one day. There was disappointment elsewhere though as Rakesh Kumar’s impressive compound campaign came to a close in a thrilling quarter-final.

Harvinder Singh, India’s first Paralympic medallist in archery, left nothing to chance

Athletics

Once again, athletics provided plenty of excitement for Indian fans with a total of eight medals from track and field events. Sumit Antil’s record-breaking performance was the undoubted headliner, with Devendra Jhajharia equalling the feat of Joginder Singh Bedi’s, by winning his third medal at the Games. The high jump and javelin throw gave India their medals, while Yogesh Kathuniya stood out with his discus throw silver.

Track and Jumps

Throws

Javelin throw at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo continued to remain special for India as Sumit joined Neeraj Chorpa is winning the gold medal. While Jhajharia’s silver was another chapter in a glorious journey, Sundar Singh Gurjar completed a redemption story after having missed his event at Rio 2016 controversially and heartbreakingly. It was a moment to savour for him and Indian athletics with two athletes on the podium.

The fourth-place finish for Sandeep Chaudhary was one of the heartbreaks in Tokyo for India as it was an event where Sumit-Sandeep were even expected to finish 1-2.

On a memorable day for India, Devendra Jhajharia has his moment in the sun

Meet Sumit Antil, wrestler-turned-javelin thrower who never gave up on his dreams

Badminton

Given the pedigree of the shuttlers who went to Tokyo, so much was expected from the Indian badminton contingent and they largely lived up to their billing with the top seed in SL3 Pramod Bhagat and second seed in SH6 Krishna Nagar clinching two gold medals. Suhas Yathiraj nearly pulled off one of the upsets of the Games but eventually finished second after losing against top seed Lucas Mazur in the final. The fourth medal came from Manoj Sarkar, who had the chance to set up an all-Indian final but eventually finished with bronze in SL3 alongside Bhagat.

In Palak Kohli, India have a teenage shuttler capable of big results at the world stage and she showed her fighting spirit and shot-making abilities in spades, reaching the quarter-final in singles and coming close to a medal with Bhagat in mixed doubles. The Indian pair pulled off a massive upset by defeating the world No 3 pair in their group and lost a hard-fought battle in the bronze playoff.

Parul Parmar and Tarun Dhillon also returned without podium finishes. Parmar, the 48-year-old veteran, however, seemed to enjoy her time on the court, battling through tough matches in her non-preferred category. Perhaps, the disappointment was only from Tarun, who started with two wins but couldn’t get past the finish line in his last three matches and paid the price.

All in all, a superb campaign.

Paralympics: India’s badminton success, expected and hard-earned, must act as a catalyst for change

Canoe Sprint

In a discipline making its debut at the Games, India’s first Paralympian to be a part of canoe sprint – Prachi Yadav – finished a creditable eighth overall, after reaching the final. She finished the race in 1:07.329s.

Prachi had earlier qualified for the medal final by finishing a superb third in the semi-final among five athletes with a timing of 1:07.397s.

Powerlifting

Shooting

After the disappointments of the Olympic Games, the Asaka Shooting Range brought plenty of cheer for Indian fans at the Paralympic Games. With only one finalist at the Olympic Games being a disappointing return, the Paralympic Games saw multiple final appearances, two teenagers winning gold medals (with one of them adding another), and a veteran winning multiple medals as well. There were couple of heartbreaks thrown in there for good measure too.

Pistol

Singhraj Adhana and Manish Narwal provided one of the best moments of the Games for India with their 1-2 finish in the 50m pistol event. The 19-year-old Narwal topped the qualification in the 10m event but the veteran clinched the medal there. Rubina Francis and Rahul Jakhar were among the finalists, with the latter coming close to a medal finish.

Rifle

The star of the show was none other than 19-year-old Avani Lekhara, who became the first Indian woman to win a Paralympics gold medal and also the first Indian woman to multiple Paralympics medals.

Curious teen with a connection to the rifle: Story of Avani Lekhara’s historic Paralympics campaign

Elsewhere, Swaroop Unhalkar was minutes away from ensuring a podium finish but paid the price for a bad series by finishing fourth. In India’s final shooting event, Sidhartha Babu missed out on a spot in the final by a mere 0.2 points.

Swimming

Table tennis

If ever there was an example for stepping up to the challenge at the big event, Bhavina Patel provided that on her way to the silver medal. Sonal Patel, in class 3, came close to pulling off an upset in her opening match but a tough group made it difficult for her to progress. And in the team event, with one win guaranteeing a medal, the Indians had to face China in the quarter-final and that was a bridge too far.

Bhavina Patel (ranked 12) at Tokyo 2020:

Lost against world No 1 Zhou Ying in Group A

Defeated world No 9 Megan Shackleton in a must-win Group A match.

Defeated world No 8 Joyce de Oliveira in R16.

Defeated world No 2 & Rio 2016 gold medallist Borislava Peric Rankovic in QF.

Defeated world No 3 & Rio 2016 silver medallist Zhang Miao in SF.

Lost against world No 1 Zhou Ying in final

How Bhavina Patel kept calm and carried on for a massive SF win

Taekwondo

Like badminton, another event making its Paralympics debut. There was heartbreak for the Indian camp here, though, as 21-year-old Aruna Tanwar had to withdraw from repechage rounds after starting the day brightly by upsetting the fifth seed. She is then reported to have fought her quarter-final bout with probable fractures and lost to the eventual champion. The injuries meant she could not take part in the repechage round for bronze medal.

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With inputs from PTI and Tokyo 2020 official website