Kolkata: The Indian push for medals in Tokyo is not over yet - as an all-time high contingent of 54 athletes in nine disciplines will be in the fray at the Tokyo Paralympics which gets underway on Tuesday.
Despite the country having 12 medals to their credit in the history of Paralympics so far, the media glare fell on them like never before after the Rio Olympics where javelin thrower (F46) Devendra Jhajahria and long jumper (T42) Mariyappan Thangavelu won their second gold medals and the feisty Deepa Malik made her way into record books when she became the first woman athlete to win a medal at the shopwiece - a silver.
Malik, an inspirational figure who is wheelchair-bound as she is paralysed from chest downwards, retired from the sport last year to take over as the President of Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), is bullish about the contingent’s medal hopes in Tokyo.
“The strength of the contingent itself depicts how strong it’s going to be, especially when we have at least 24 of our 54 athletes in top three rankings in the indigenous local trials within India,” the recipient of Rajiv Khel Ratna award said in an interview before leaving for Tokyo.
The current set of athletes have become accustomed to the new normal. In the last two years they have been training, winning their games and securing their rankings on top three positions despite the COVID-19 challenges
The PCI president feels there should be no apprehension about the para-athletes in the new normal as they have become accustomed to the best practices. “The current set of athletes have become accustomed to the new normal. In the last two years they have been training, winning their games and securing their rankings on top three positions despite the COVID-19 challenges,” she pointed out.
Not too many are aware that contrary to India’s medal drought in track & field in Summer Olympics which was ended by Neeraj Chopra in Tokyo, 10 of India’s 12 medals in Paralympics have come from athletics. The scenario is very much the same this year - while the officials are pinning hopes in Para archery, Para table tennis, Para powerlifting and Para badminton, which is making its debut.
Thangavelu, Jhajharia favourites
The athletics squad will be led by Thangavelu again, who will be the flagbearer and is looking to accomplish what no Indian has done before, win second successive gold in the Games.
At the national selection trials in June, Thangavelu made his intentions clear with a leap of 1.86 metres. “It was one of my best performances (at selection trials) after Rio 2016. 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,” said Thangavelu, who suffered a permanent disability to his right leg when run over by a drunk bus driver while on his way to school.
Rio gold medallist Jhajharia and bronze medallist Varun Singh Bhati (high jump T42) will also be looking to replicate their Rio performances.
“I had to wait for 12 years after winning my first gold medal in Athens 2004. I made the most of the opportunity and bagged my second gold at Rio de Janeiro. I don’t want to miss this opportunity in Tokyo,” Jhajharia told Paralympics.org.
The Para athletics team comprises of eight javelin throwers including Jhajharia - Ajeet Singh and Sundar Singh Gurjar (F46), Sandeep Chaudhary and Sumit Antil (F64), Navdeep Singh (F41), Ranjeet Bhati (F57) and Tek Chand (F54).
10-member shooting squad
A record 10 shooters have booked their berths for Tokyo and national chief coach JP Nautiyal is upbeat about their chances.
“We have a balanced team with young and senior players and many of them are coming out with excellent scores during the training that has been ongoing since last month. It has been a great journey for the entire team who have shown great results in the last few years,” said Nautiyal, singling out Avani Lekhara, Singhraj and Manish Narwal among others as best medals prospects.
Para badminton
Palak Kohli, a 18-year-old who was featured by BBC as one of the athletes to watch out for, will be worth keeping an eye on in Para badminton. Of the seven-member badminton squad, India will be expecting medals from Pramod Bhagat (SL3), Krishna Nagar (SH6) and the women’s doubles pair of Parul Parmar and Palak Kohli (SL3-SU5). All of them are highly ranked in their category and have prepared very well under the guidance of national chief national coach Gaurav Khanna.
Archers hold promise
There are five archers in the fray - Rakesh Kumar and Shyam Sundar (compound), Vivek Chikara and Harvinder Singh (recurve) while woman archer Jyoti Baliyan (compound individual /mixed event) completes the squad. Other women athletes who are part of the squad include Simran Yadav (100m T13, Ekta Bhyan and Kashish Lakra (Club Throw F51).
“The Archery team looks strong for a team medal and Jyoti Baliyan is a medal prospect. Training together has made them more confident as they are also learning from each other,” added Malik.
