Tokyo 2020 Paralympics- an Ode to Glory.
The triumph of India’s athletes on the biggest stage of the world.
On 29th July 1948, during the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympic Games, Sir Ludwig Guttmann organized the first-ever competition for wheelchair athletes known as the Stoke Mandeville Games. This small step gave birth to a whole event in itself known as the Paralympic Games.
Paralympics were initiated to ensure that impairments should not have any detrimental effect on the sport performance of a person who has appropriate skills, fitness, power, endurance, tactical ability, and mental focus about the sport they are passionate about.
This event offers athletes with physical, vision, or intellectual impairments, provided they satisfy certain prerequisites to participate in various sporting events. Paralympics are split into Winter Games and Summer Games and are held alternately every two years at the same venue where Olympics are held.
Agitos is the Paralympic Symbol and consists of three elements in red, blue, and green. These colors are widely represented in the national flag of various countries.
The three agitos encircle a central point that symbolizes the bringing together of athletes throughout the globe. Paralympics is meant to teach us that people worldwide, irrespective of how they are classified, deserve a chance to showcase their talent.
Bhavina Hasmukhbhai Pate
Bhavina Hasmukhbhai Patel, a silver medalist in Class 4 Table tennis at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, showed the world that she is the literal embodiment of the saying “Where there is a will, there’s a way.” Born in 1986 in the small village of Sundhiya, Vadnagar, in the Mehsana district of Gujarat, she was diagnosed with poliomyelitis when she was merely 12 months old.
Her father, Hasmukhbhai Patel, being the only wage earner in the family of five, could not afford the treatment when she was young. Hasmukhbhai admitted her to a hospital in Visakhapatnam later on but was bound to her wheelchair for most of her childhood.
She could not cope with rehabilitation, and the treatment didn’t yield results. Initially, she wanted to become a teacher but was rejected. Hence, her father decided to enroll in the Blind People’s Association, Ahmadabad, in 2004, where she did a course in ITI and completed her graduation there.
Later on, she started working in the Revenue Recovery Cell of Employees State Insurance Corporation and got married to Nikul Gupta who helped her as a Coach and support system Bhavina turned a new leaf in Ahmedabad when she met her coach Lalah Doshi and started her Table Tennis journey in 2004. Bhavani took this opportunity and practiced for 3 years, and in 2007 she won in Para Table Tennis Nationals in Bangalore and set her eyes on going international.
She won her first international medal in 2011, a silver, by beating her Chinese opponent at the Para Table Tennis Thailand Open. In 2013 she won India’s first in Asian Regional Championship and continued her journey. In 2018 due to some technicalities, she couldn’t participate in the Rio Olympics and even asked for help from Bollywood celebs like Akshay Kumar and Amir khan.
She didn’t let this setback discourage her, and in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, she made history by becoming the first table tennis player to win a silver medal in the Paralympics. Her victory was celebrated with Garba and acknowledgment from childhood idol Sachin Tendulkar and prime minister Narendra Modi.
She rose like a phoenix from her ashes, won 5 gold medals and 14 silver medals for India, and made the nation proud, but she doesn’t cease to amaze us as she targets the Paris Olympic 2024.
Nishad Kumar
Everybody’s dream is to represent their country on a global platform like the Olympics, and similar was his tale!!
Nishad Kumar is a high jumper. He made his first appearance in the Paralympic 2020 Tokyo representing India. He bagged a silver medal with a new Asian record of 2.06m in the men’s high jump T47 category.
Nishad hails from Una, Himachal Pradesh. His father is a farmer. He met with an accident at the age of 8 where he lost his right hand. In early 2021, he also tested positive for COVID-19.
He has pursued his higher education at the Himachal Pradesh University, and currently, he is a student at LPU.
Even though he lost his right hand, he never let that come in between his training and his desires. His instructor had stirred him up to participate in the High Jump in 2009, which later became his passion. After that, he went to Panchkula, Haryana, for his intense training with his early
instructor Mr. Naseem.
He opted for the sport of para-athletics in 2009. He has won a bronze medal at the World Para Athletics Championships in the men’s T47 category in November 2019.
As a result, he also qualified to compete at the 2020 Summer Paralympics. He has also claimed a gold medal in the T46 category in Dubai at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix 2021.
So, nothing in this world that exists is impossible for us!! All we need to do is work hard, and everything will be sorted out on its own.
Avani Lekhara
Hailing from the Pink City of Jaipur, Avani Lekhara, at 19, scripted history by being the first Indian female gold medalist at either an Olympics or a Paralympics. She bagged a gold medal in the 10m air rifle standing and added a bronze medal to her name in the 50m air rifle standing in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
Avani’s trailblazing career in shooting started in 2015. She had a car accident in 2012 in which she suffered spinal injuries, which led to complete paraplegia. Her father encouraged her to join sports as a way to cheer up, to which she responded by first getting training in archery and then shooting. But she leaned towards shooting and found herself inspired by the former Olympic Champion Abhinav Bindra.
She made her first debut in the year 2017 World Cup in UAE. Moving up the ladder with her spirits holding her high, she clinched a silver at the Para shooting World Cup in Croatia in 2019, winning a quota place for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Her key influence behind the success of the Tokyo Paralympics gold medal has been her coach, Suma Shirur, the national high-performance coach of the junior rifle team.
Even though COVID was a huge hindrance for her due to the unavailability of most of her coaches and physiotherapists, that didn’t push her back on her preparations for the Paralympics.
She made the most out of the difficult times during the lockdown. Her feat at Tokyo is all an outcome of her resilient spirits and willpower which pushed her further at all life steps.
Devendra Jhajharia
Devendra Jhajharia, an Indian Paralympic javelin thrower, took birth on the 10th of June, 1981. He was born and brought up in Rajgarh, the historic Shekhawati region of Churu in Rajasthan.
Devendra comes from a modest farming family where he found all the support he needed to pursue his dream of being a sportsman. At the very young age of eight, he had to go through a horrific and tragic incident when he climbed up a tree and touched a live electric cable. He was rushed to the hospital, but the medical experts could not save his left hand and had to amputate it.
Devendra Jhajharia was always interested in sports from the very beginning. He did not allow his amputation to prevent him from achieving success in athletics.
At school sports activities, he used to win a bunch of trophies. He was only sixteen years old when Dronacharya Awardee coach, R. D. Singh, noticed his potential while competing at a school sports day. He said, “he gives me a lot of advice and helps me during training,” about his coach, R. D. Singh. After this, Sunil Tanwar has been his instructor since 2015.
Jhajharia achieved gold at the 8th FESPIC Games in South Korea in 2002. At the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, he earned his first gold medal in the javelin throw, establishing himself as the country’s second gold medallist. His 62.15 meters throw was a world record.
For 12 years, the record stood undefeated! Then, in the Rio Paralympics, Devendra shattered his record with a throw of 63.97 meters. It was unquestionably a matter of pride for the whole nation! In the year 2012, The Indian government honored him with the Padma Shri award.
He was the first para-athlete to earn the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, India’s greatest sports honor, in 2017. During the qualifying tryouts in New Delhi in July 2021, he set a new world record of 65.71 meters, qualifying him for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, and won a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Sundar Singh Gurjar
Sundar Singh Gurjar, Indian Paralympic Javelin Thrower, shot putter, and Discus thrower, was born on 1 January 1996, in Karauli, at Rajasthan. He had competed in F46 Events.
It is a disability sport classification for disabled athletes. Sundar is a player who has struggled a lot to make history.
Sundar lost his left hand in 2015 when a metal sheet was dropped on him at his friend’s house. His friend’s parents were picking up the metal sheet to cover the cattle shed. He and his friend, while helping his parents, one metal sheet fell.
After that, he was initially following his father and brother in wrestling. Later he spotted a coach at a wrestling competition where he encouraged him to take up athletics. Following his accident, he was introduced to Para-athletics by his coach, RD Singh.
After the introduction to athletics, he struggled a lot to be selected in Javelin at Rio. Sundar Singh was one of the favorites to win a medal in Javelin’s throw, but he was disqualified from the F46 event because he failed to register on time. Singh claimed that while he was warming up, he didn’t understand when his name was called to attend the registration desk.
When he arrived, it was too late, so he was disqualified. He broke up mentally for disqualification just because he couldn’t understand and speak in English.
Sundar’s depression continued for the next six months, and he was also idle. But his coach took him for counseling to get rid of depression.
As everyone knows, “Behind every Struggle, there is Success,” after facing these huge struggles, Sundar Singh’s performances and hard work made history.
In 2016 Sundar Singh entered the ‘A’ qualification mark for Rio Paralympics 2016 with a 59.36m in the 8th Fazza IPC Athletics Grand Prix, Dubai. He created a national record of 68.42m during the 16th Para in Athletics National Championship.
In the 9th Fazza IPC Athletics, Sundar Gurjar won 3 Gold Medals in three events under the coaching of Leader Mahaveer Prasad Saini. Sundar won a silver medal in the Javelin throw and a bronze medal in the Discus throw in the 2018 Asian Para Games.
He won a bronze medal in the F46 event men’s Javelin Throw at the 2020 Summer Paralympics on 30 August 2021.
Sundar set a world record at the 16th Athletics National Championship. He is also the receiver of the Arjuna Award for Para-athletics.
Yogesh Kathuniya
Yogesh Kathuniya was born on 3rd March 1997. His father, Gyanchand Kathuniya, served in the army, while his mother, Meena Devi, was a housewife. Everything was just fine until, at the age of 8, he suffered a paralytic attack, which later was discovered as Guillain-Barre syndrome. It is a rare case in which the immune system attacks the nerves. It left him incapable of walking, but his mother learned physiotherapy, and within 3 years, he was capable of walking again.
He later attained a bachelor of commerce degree from New Delhi’s Kirorimal College. At college, the general secretary of the Student’s Union, Sachin Yadav, used to show him videos of other para-athletes and used to motivate him to do the same. Upon hearing a lot from Sachin, he decided to start Parasports in the year 2017.
In 2018, he created history in the F36 category by throwing the disc to 45.18 m at the 2018 World Para Athletics European Championships in Berlin. In 2019, he won bronze under the F56 category of Discus Throws in the world championship, giving him a pass for the Olympics. In the F56 classification, athletes have full arm and trunk muscle power. Pelvic stability, however, varies between some too full to press the knees together.
Finally, in 2021, he achieved a silver in the 2020 Paralympic games under the F56 event of Discus Throw, postponed due to the ongoing pandemic. When probably no facet of his life forgot to remind him of his weaknesses, he and his family only focused on improving and doing better each day. His story is a true example of how sports and fitness can help in an individual’s physical and mental development. His determination and willpower have once again put India on the world map.
Sumit Antil
Sumit Antil, the name is on the headline for breaking the world record by winning the gold medals three times in Tokyo Olympics 2020.
The 23-years-old Indian Javeline Thrower lost his leg in a bike accident in 2015. Despite having his disability, Sumit threw the Javeline at a distance of 68.55m and set a world record.
Moreover, he broke his record 62.88m three times on the very same day. His recent throws were 66.95, 68.08, 65.27, 66.71, 68.55, and foul were the numbers in his throw series.
F64 is the category where the athlete has leg amputated and will compete against others in a standing posture using prosthetic legs. Sumit Antil made his position in top finalists in the Tokyo Olympic for F64 categories.
More about Sumit Antil
He was a student at Ramjas College in Delhi. Before the injury, he was an able-bodied wrestler. In the year 2018, a para-athlete in his community introduced him to the sport.
On March 5, he participated in the able-bodied Indian Grand Prix series 3 in Patiala, where he was competing with the gold medal winner of this year, Neeraj Chopra.
Sumit got the position of seventh at the throw of 66.43m. Neeraj got the first position surpassing his record with a grand leap of 88.07m. He won a silver medal at the World Champions in Dubai in 2019. He broke the record at his fifth throw of the distance of 68.55m.
Singraj Adhana
Life unfolds itself in mysterious ways.No one would have ever imagined that Mr. Singraj Adhana discovered his love for Shooting while escorting his nephew to a shooting range.
On being insisted by the coach, he took a few shots and did very well. His journey to Para Shooting at the Tokyo Paralympics started at the age of 35. His age wasn’t the only hurdle making things difficult for him.
The weak financial conditions of his family compelled him to sell his wife’s jewelry to continue his training despite that his family was very supportive of his dream and created a shooting range of 10m and 50m on their land to help him train better.
“It was not easy to pursue an expensive sport like shooting; my wife sacrificed her jewelry, sold them to support my shooting dream,” said Singraj during an interview with the Prime Minister.
The shooting range was 40kms away from Singraj’s home, and he covered that distance every day to keep practicing. This dedication and talent attracted the National coach Subhash Rana, and he took him under his guidance. Singraj began winning medals at the national level.
The year 2018 was spectacular for him at the Para Asian Game. He bagged bronze and then his first international medal by winning silver in individual and gold in a team event at the Chateauroux world cup held in France. Later in 2019, he won gold, silver, and bronze medals in different events held in the 62nd National Shooting Championship held in Kerala.
Singraj was born on 26th January 1982 in Faridabad, Haryana. He contracted polio as a child, but that did not stop him from fulfilling his dream of seeing the Indian national flag flying high at the Tokyo Paralympics 2020. In P1 10 meter air pistol SH1, he bagged a Bronze medal, and in Mixed 50m pistol SH1, he bagged a Silver medal at the 2020 Summer Paralympic.
Extremely delighted by his performance Singraj expressed his gratitude to his coaches and support staff.
“I dreamt of seeing the national flag high, and I’m delighted that my dream has been fulfilled. Seeing our national flag raised brought me immense delight, and the national anthem was played, which filled me with pride,” he said.
Mariyappan Thangavelu
Mariyappan Thangavelu, an Indian Paralympic high jumper, was born on 28th June 1995. He grew up in the quaint Periavadagampatti village of Salem District, Tamil Nadu. He had a tough life as his father had left his mother and six children at a very early age.
When he was five years old, he sustained a permanent disability in his right leg when he was run over by a bus while walking to school. The bus dismembered his leg below the knee, causing it to become permanently stunted. Despite this setback, he completed secondary schooling. In an interview, he had once mentioned, “Didn’t see me as different from able-bodied kids.”
Mariyappan Thangavelu always had an athletic spirit; even as a student, he enjoyed playing volleyball. Thereafter, his school physical education teacher encouraged him to try high jumping.
When he was 14, he placed second in his first competitive event in the Salem district, in a field of able-bodied opponents. His present-day coach, Satyanarayana, first observed his performance at the Indian national para-athletics championships in 2013. In 2015 he formally accepted him as a pupil, bringing him to Bengaluru for training.
By clearing a distance of 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) in the men’s high jump T–42 event at the IPC Grand Prix in Tunisia in March 2016, he qualified for the Rio Paralympics. He won gold in the men’s T–42 high jump event at the Rio Paralympics, bounding 1.89 meters (6 ft 2 in).
In the Men’s High Jump T-63 event at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships, he cleared 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) and secured the third position. On 25 January 2017, the Government of India bestowed him with the Padma Shri award for his contribution towards sports, and in the same year, he was also awarded Arjuna Award.
In the year 2020, he was awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna by the Government of India. He competed in the men’s high jump T-42 category for India at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Paralympic Games, winning silver in the finals.
Sharad Kumar
Passion, faith, and a relentless drive lead a person to boundless success.
Paralympic bronze winner at men’s high jump, Sharad Kumar, was battling an injury on the eve of the event. He dislocated his meniscus the night before the event and was heartbroken. He talked with his friends and parents, read Bhagavad Gita, and entered the arena with faith.
I am feeling great because I had an injury last night; every jump was like war. Last night I cried, cried, and cried. I read Bhagavad Gita last night. We do not have control over such things, and that’s how I entered the arena today. — Said Sharad Kumar in an interview.
The perspectives on success are differently phrased. The importance of wins and losses cannot be understated either. It’s about commitment and the belief about being the best within the scope of limitations.
Born on 1st March 1992 in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, Sharad Kumar suffered paralysis of his left leg after taking spurious polio medicine at a local eradication drive when he was two.
He studied in St. Paul’s School, Darjeeling, where he started high jump in 7th grade. He competed against able-bodied athletes and broke district records. He completed his Higher Secondary at Modern School, Delhi. He completed his undergraduate in Political Science from Kirori Mal College and Post Graduation in Politics with a specialization in International relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Sharad made his debut internationally in 2010 at Asian Para Games in Guangzhou. He qualified for the 2012 Paralympics in January 2012, where he jumped 1.64 m, becoming the world’s no. 1 at the age of 19 with a high jump of 1.75 m in the Malaysian Open Para Athletics Championship.
He won gold in the 2014 Paralympics games by clearing 1.80 m, breaking a 12-year Asian Games record.
He finished the sixth position in the Rio Olympics 2016 at 1.77 m. He trained under National Para Athletics Coach Mr. Satyanaraya since March 2015 and won Silver in the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships with a jump of 1.84m. He bagged gold in the 2018 Para Asían Games Jakarta setting a new Game Record and Continental Record by jumping 1.90 m.
In life, we are faced with challenges that shake our self-esteem. Our skills or our own self are placed into question at times.
It’s the will to endure and overcome the challenges. Success comes from solving problems enthusiastically. Enthusiasm stays afloat through determination.
No one achieves success by themselves, even if most of it is solo efforts. There will always be one person that cheers us on and help in our growth.
With this in mind, we must surround ourselves with people who keep us motivated, which in turn help us to grow along the way.
Paralympics have successfully changed everyone’s pre-developed notion regarding people with impairments and have shown that people with grit and determination can overcome any hardship they face.
The Paralympic Motto states, “Spirit in Motion,” which represents the strong will of every Paralympian. Paralympics signifies that every Paralympian is always ready to move forward and never give up.
Credits for Researching, Writing, and Editing the Story
Written and Edited by Avani Srivastava, Anwesha Sarkar, Shivangi Kumar, Sudeshna Das, Subhangi Rout, Subhashree Pattnaik, Preyrana Mishra, Priyanshu Sinha, Ambrisha Vaibhav, Shilpi Raj, Tiyasha Dutta, and Tanulima Sarma from TPH- The Phonetic House
