Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games: An overview of the schedule for India’s 54-member contingent

All eyes of sports fans will once again turn to Tokyo as the Paralympic Games begin on August 24 with the opening ceremony, while the closing ceremony is scheduled for September 5.

Around 4,400 competitors from nearly 160 countries and territories will be in Japan for the Paralympics,. Tokyo is the only city ever to host the Paralympic Games twice. At the 1964 Tokyo Paralympics, 378 athletes competed in nine sports at six venues.

India’s contingent for the Tokyo Paralympics is their largest ever in the Games history. The country’s focus will predominantly be on athletics, while badminton and shooting will also provide plenty of action.

The campaign starts with table tennis on August 25 and 26. From August 27, things start to move up a gear with archers, powerlifters and swimmers in action. And once athletics starts on August 28, things go up a few notches.

And keep an eye on August 30, Indian sport fans. With the F46 and F64 javelin throw events for men scheduled for that day (featuring the likes of Devendra Jhajharia, Sundar Singh Gurjar, Sandeep and Sumit) it could potentially be a blockbuster for the Indian contingent.

Tokyo 2020 Paralympics: Complete list of athletes in India’s record contingent and their events

History, India’s medals, new events and more – a brief guide to Paralympic Games

(Timings, where mentioned, are in IST. Scroll horizontally or swipe right to view all columns in the tables below)

Archery

Para archers are classified into one of two categories depending on their level of impairment: open or W1. As per World Archery, athletes in the open category usually have an impairment in either the top or bottom half or one side of their bodies. Athletes in the W1 category usually have an impairment in the top and bottom halves of their bodies, torso and at least three limbs.

Indian archers are featuring in the open categories of men’s and women’s compound / recurve individual events. With only one female archer in contingent, India will be able to field an entry in compound mixed team (open) as well.

Indian contingent: Harvinder Singh, Vivek Chikara (recurve open men), Rakesh Kumar, Shyam Sundar Swami (compound open men), Jyoti Balyan (compound open women).

• Friday 27 August – qualifying (5.30 am for women, 10.30 am for men)
• Saturday 28 August – Compound open men’s elimination rounds
• Sunday 29 August – Compound open women’s elimination rounds and mixed team finals
• Monday 30 August – Compound women open eliminations and finals
• Tuesday 31 August – Compound men open eliminations and finals
• Thursday 2 September – Recurve women open eliminations and finals
• Friday 3 September – Recurve men open eliminations and finals

Athletics

India’s medals at the Paralympic Games have historically come from athletics the most frequently. A whopping 10 out of the 12 medals in India’s Paralympics history have come from the track and field events and the expectations are once again high in Tokyo. Given the number of high-level performers in the Indian contingent, athletics will be at the center of attention.

Badminton

Group play matches: September 1 to September 3

Finals matches: September 3 to September 5

Canoe Sprint

Canoeing is a relatively new sport at the Paralympics. Introduced at Rio 2016, it returns in Tokyo and India’s Prachi Yadav will be the first from the country to feature in the event.

Races are contested by two types of boat, kayak and va’a (which means ‘small boat’ in the Polynesian language). The kayak is propelled by a double-blade paddle, while the va’a is an outrigger canoe which has a second pontoon as a support float and is used with a single-blade paddle.

— via Tokyo2020 Paralympics

Powerlifting

Shooting

After just one shooter represented India at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, the contingent has significantly grown in size for Tokyo 2020.

Men’s event: Manish Narwal (P1, P4), Singhraj (P1, P4), Deepender Singh (P1), Deepak (R1, R6, R7), Sidhartha Babu (R3, R6), Swaroop Mahavir Unhalkar (R1), Akash (P3, P4), Rahul Jakhar (P3).

Women’s event: Avani Lekhara (R2, R3, R6, R8), Rubina Francis (P2).

Note: The “mixed” events in Shooting Para Sport are events that feature men and women athletes competing together and are not team events.

Swimming

Table tennis

Taekwondo

Detailed schedule for daily events will be published the day before. The Paralympic Games will be broadcast in India on Doordarshan and Eurosport India.