New Delhi: India’s Chef de Mission Gursharan Singh stated that the country will better its 2016 Rio Paralympics performances this year in Tokyo, expecting at least 15 medals including five gold. The Tokyo Paralympics starts on August 24.
“I am confident that these would be our best ever Paralympic Games. Our Para-athletes have worked very hard in the past years and shown great results in international competitions. They are raring to go for the Games,” Singh, who is also the secretary of the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), said in a release.
“We are expecting around 15 medals including 5 golds at these Games. We have high medal hopes in Para-Athletics, Para-Badminton, Para Shooting, and Para Archery,” he added. India’s Paralympic contingent will also be the largest ever with 54 athletes this edition.
In 11 Paralympic appearances, India has won 12 medals, including four gold. T Mariyappan, India’s flag-bearer at the Paralympics, had also reached Tokyo, and the para high-jumper will be under a lot of pressure to win his second gold in Tokyo. Mariyappan jumped 1.86 meters in the recent National selection trials.
“It was one of my best performances (at selection trials) since Rio 2016,” said Mariyappan, who had suffered a permanent disability to his right leg in a road accident. “I had an ankle injury in 2017 and it took some time to heal. It’s been a while since I had been looking to get my old rhythm back. And I believe I have got it back now. I feel I am ready for the Games. I will aim for the gold.”
Besides Mariyappan, India’s para javelin throwers, led by two-time Paralympic champion Devendra Jhajharia (F46), reigning world champion Sundar Singh Gurjar and Ajeet Singh (also in F46), world champ and record holder in F64, Sandeep Chaudhary and Navdeep Singh (F41) are among those to watch.
India is already counting on its shooters and badminton players to perform admirably in Tokyo. World No.1 and multiple-time world champion, Pramod Bhagat, will lead India’s para-badminton contingent in the men’s SL3 event.
Other para-shuttlers who are expected to perform well include World No. 2 Krishna Nagar (SH6) and Tarun Dhillon (SL4). Rakesh Kumar and Shyam Sundar (compound), Vivek Chikara and Harvinder Singh (recurve), and woman archer Jyoti Baliyan (compound individual/mixed event) will represent India in the para-archery event.
India will be competing in nine sports at the Tokyo Paralympics — para archery, para-athletics, para-badminton, para canoeing, shooting para-sport, para-swimming, para powerlifting, para table tennis, and para-taekwondo.
