The 2020 Summer Paralympics, also known as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were held in Tokyo, Japan from 24 August to 5 September 2021. It was the 16th Summer Paralympic Games organized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
It was originally scheduled to take place from 25 August to 6 September 2020.
Mascot:
The mascot of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games was ‘Someity’. Someity is named after someiyoshino, a type of cherry blossom.
New Sports:
The 2020 Summer Paralympics featured 539 events in 22 sports. Badminton and taekwondo made their Paralympic debut in Tokyo 2020.
Indians at the 2020 Summer Paralympic Games Tokyo:
54 athletes from India participated in 9 sports disciplines including Archery, Athletics (Track and Field), Badminton, Swimming, Weight Lifting among others. This was the biggest-ever contingent India sent to any Paralympics.
Theme Song:
The Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Shri Anurag Thakur launched the theme song “Kar De Kamaal Tu” for the Indian Paralympic contingent on 03 August 2021 in New Delhi.
Flag-bearer:
Javelin thrower Tek Chand was India’s flag-bearer for the opening ceremony at the Tokyo Paralympics 2020 after Mariyappan Thangavelu was put under quarantine. Trailblazing shooter Avani Lekhara was India’s flag-bearer at the Tokyo Paralympics 2020 for the closing ceremony.
Ranking Table:
In the Tokyo 2020 Summer Paralympics medal table, a total of 86 nation teams won medals, with the China finishing first with 207 medals, while the last 9 nations finished 78th with one medal each.
In Tokyo Paralympics 2020, India won 19 medals, finishing 24th in the overall medal tally among 162 nations competing in Tokyo 2020, and ranking 20th on the basis of total medals won. India won 19 medals including 5 Gold, 8 Silver and 6 Bronze.
India had won only 12 medals until 2016 since making its Paralympic Games debut in 1968.
Indian Medallist:
Gold:
Silver:
Bronze:
Highlights:
» Prachi Yadav, 26, became the first Indian to secure entry in the Paralympic Games Para Canoeing competition.
» Bhavinaben Patel created history by winning India’s first silver medal in women’s singles class 4 table tennis at Tokyo Paralympics.
» India’s Avani Lekhara became the first Indian woman in history to win a Paralympic Gold medal in shooting for the country. Trailblazing shooter Avani Lekhara became the first Indian woman to win two Paralympic medals in the same Paralympic Games.
» Another shooter Singhraj Adhana also won two medals (1 Silver and 1 Bronze) at the Tokyo Paralympic Games.
» Archer Harvinder Singh won the bronze medal. Archer Harvinder Singh became the first Indian to win a medal in Archery at the Paralympics.
» Sumit Antil won the gold medal in the F64 Javelin Throw. Sumit Antil set three world records on his way to winning the men’s Javelin Throw F64 gold medal on debut in the Paralympic Games in Tokyo. He dominated the competition with the four best throws by any competitor, finally writing the world record at 68.55m with his fifth attempt.
» Mariyappan Thangavelu won the silver medal in High Jump. This was Mariyappan’s second medal from the Paralympic Games; in Rio 2016, he won the gold.
Note:
Para-athlete Vinod Kumar, who had won the bronze medal in the men’s discus throw event (F52 category) at the Tokyo Paralympics, had his result declared void following a re-assessment by a classification panel. The decision meant Kumar did not win a medal.
Next Summer Paralympics Games:
The next two Summer Paralympic Games will be hosted in Los Angeles 2028 and Paris 2024, the United States and France respectively.