This Olympic event of the year (Tokyo 2020) marked perhaps India’s best Olympics performance. India won seven medals in this game which did beat the last best record of six medals at the London games of 2012. We bagged a Gold, two Silver and four bronze medals!
The famed Gold was bagged by Neeraj Chopra, very well known to every Indian today, who earned his medal in javelin throw with an amazing throw of 86.58 metres.
Ravi Dahiya bagged the silver in the 56 kilogram wrestling category. Mirabai Chanu was the second to win a silver in Weight lifting, in the 49 kilogram category. She worked super hard to reach this stage and we all feel very proud of her victory.
PV Sindhu won us a bronze, becoming the first Indian woman to bag two Olympic medals. Hailing from Assam’s Golaghat district, Lovlina Borogohains filled Indian hearts with pride by winning a Bronze in Boxing. The Indian hockey team bought us a bronze medal. They fulfilled our long lost dream! The final bronze was earned by Bajrang Punia in Wrestling in the 65 kg category!
Besides the main event, we had the best Paralympics ever.
Avani Lekhara bagged a Gold medal in women’s 10 metre air rifle shooting. In her debut, Avani Lekhara shot a new Paralympic record of 249.6 in the women’s 10 metre air rifle shooting standing final against Cuiping Zhang of China to win the gold medal. It is now the world record score in this category! She made this great achievement only at the age of 19.
Pramod Bhagat beat Daniel Bethell of Great Britain by 21-14 and 21-17 to make history in the game of Parabadminton . This was the first time badminton (SL3) was being played in Olympics and thus Pramod Bhagat is the first ever player to win a gold in para badminton in this category at such a great stage.
Then came another Gold for India in Parabadminton. Krishna Nagar won against Chu Man Kai by 21-17, 16-21, 21-17 to bag another Gold in SH6 Badminton.
Yet another masterpiece was bagged by Manish Narwal in men’s 50 metre pistol SH1. He got the top stop at the podium when we shot to set a record of 218.2 in the category!
Next up we have Sumit Antil. A 23-old Indian to beat his own world record thrice! He won this medal at a whopping javelin throw of 68.08m!
Bhavina Patel who became the first Indian table tennis player to win a Paralympic medal. She lost to Zhou Ying in the final match and had to settle for a silver.
Following her we had Nishad Kumar who won a medal in men's high jump with a jump reaching a great height of 2.06 metres! He tied for a silver medal with Dallas Wise from America.
Another silver was brought to India by Devendra Jhajharia in men’s javelin throw in F46 category. This was a great addition to his prior gold medals at Rio and Athens.
Yogesh Kathuniya also won a silver medal with a best throw of 44.58m in the men’s discus throw F56 category!
Winning his second paralympic medal, Mariyappan Thangavelu brought back India a silver in men’s high jump in T42 category.
Another medal for India in men’s high jump was bagged by Pravin Kumar in T64 category who went for a high jump of 2.07 metres which is his personal best and an Asian record in high jump!
With a score of 216.7, Singhraj Adhana bagged a silver in men’s 50m pistol in SH1 category.
Last but not the least Suhas Yathiraj with a silver in men's single badminton in SL4 category.
We had six bronze winners:
Sundar Singh Gujar who with a best throw of 64.01 metres bagged a bronze for the nation in F41 Category which was his first achievement on this stage.
Singhraj Adhana after a silver also won a bronze in men’s 10 metre pistol shooting in SH1 category.
Sharad Kumar cleared the 1.08m mark to receive a bronze.
Besides her Gold, Avani Lekhara bagged a bronze in women’s 50 metre rifle in SH1 category.
The Arjun of the modern day is Harvinder Singh with bronze in individual recurve in open archery. Another Paralympic Badminton medal was earned by Manoj Sarkar in singles SL3.
Our Olympians have crossed many great barriers to achieve all that they have. Now they get respect to the moon and back, and they deserve it all and more.
Our Paralympians have crossed the greatest barrier of their disability. They are truly role models to all of us. No barrier is too high for us to cross!
Concept by: Hasini Lakshminarayanan
Written by: Swanandi K
Edited by: Akshath Jaganmohan