A 54-member contingent from India was expected to have a successful Paralympic Games and they delivered in sensational style.

In India’s entire history of Paralympic Games, the total medal tally stood at 12 before the campaign at Tokyo 2020 began. There was a feeling Indian athletes would get close to that tally at the very least, but they ended up winning more medals in one edition than in the country’s entire history. From a total of 19 athletes at Rio Paralympics, India returned with a total of 19 medals at Toyko Paralympics.

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And given the number of fourth-place finishes (six in all) and one medal that was taken away, the number could well have been even higher but for some fine margins.

Still, it was a campaign that tore up the history books and set new milestones for India in para sports.

India at Paralympics

Year Gold Silver Bronze Total
2021 5 8 6 19
2016 2 1 1 4
2012 0 1 0 1
2004 1 0 1 2
1984 0 2 2 4
1972 1 0 0 1
Total 9 12 10 31

Before Tokyo, India’s medals had come from just three sports. Athletics had accounted for 10 of the 12 medals, with swimming and powerlifting accounting for the other two. At Tokyo, India won historic first-time medals in shooting, table tennis and archery, while adding four more from badminton’s long-awaited debut at the Games.

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At the conclusion of Tokyo 2020, India enjoyed their most successful Olympic Games as well as Paralympic Games in history.

India's medal tally all-time by sport

Event Gold Silver Bronze Total
 Athletics 4 9 5 18
 Shooting 2 1 2 5
 Badminton 2 1 1 4
 Swimming 1 0 0 1
 Table tennis 0 1 0 1
 Archery 0 0 1 1
 Powerlifting 0 0 1 1

While the medal winners will be celebrated, it is important to recognise and, at the very least, record the achievements of every athlete who went to the Paralympic Games. One of the things you always hear associated with the Summer Games is how participation in itself is no mean feat, but it is especially more so in a year like 2021. The pandemic-delayed Games made things challenging in some way or the other for every athlete to took part across Tokyo 2020.

On that note, we take a look at the overall results from every event featuring an Indian athlete at the Tokyo Paralympics:

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Archery

Recovering from a less than ideal qualifying round, Harvinder Singh went on to create history for Indian archery with a bronze medal in recurve individual (open). And what a thrilling ride he took to get there, winning three shootoffs in one day. There was disappointment elsewhere though as Rakesh Kumar’s impressive compound campaign came to a close in a thrilling quarter-final.

Harvinder Singh, India’s first Paralympic medallist in archery, left nothing to chance

Event Name Results
Men's Individual Compound - Open Rakesh Kumar  Qualification: 3rd

Knockouts: Lost in QF

Final rank: 6th
Men's Individual Compound - Open Shyam Sundar Swami  Qualification: 21st

Knockouts: Lost in R32

Final rank: 17th
Men's Individual Recurve - Open Harvinder Singh  Qualification: 21st

Knockouts: Lost in SF, won in bronze medal play off

Final rank: 3rd
Men's Individual Recurve - Open Vivek Chikara  Qualification: 10th

Knockouts: Lost in R16

Final rank: 9th
Women's Individual Compound - Open Jyoti Balyan Qualification: 15th

Knockouts: Lost in R32

Final rank: 17
Mixed team Compound - Open Rakesh Kumar & Jyoti Balyan Qualification: 6th

Knockouts: Lost in QF

Final rank: 6th

Athletics

Once again, athletics provided plenty of excitement for Indian fans with a total of eight medals from track and field events. Sumit Antil’s record-breaking performance was the undoubted headliner, with Devendra Jhajharia equalling the feat of Joginder Singh Bedi’s, by winning his third medal at the Games. The high jump and javelin throw gave India their medals, while Yogesh Kathuniya stood out with his discus throw silver.

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Track and Jumps

Event Name Results
Men's High Jump - T47 Nishad Kumar  Best mark: 2.06 (=Asian Record / PB)

Final rank: 2nd (SILVER)
Ram Pal Best mark: 1.94 (=Personal Best)

Final rank: 5th
Men's High Jump - T63 Varun Singh Bhati  Best mark: 1.77 (Season Best)

Final rank: 7th
Sharad Kumar 
Best mark: 1.83 (Season Best)

Final rank: 3rd (BRONZE)
Mariyappan Thangavelu  Best mark: 1.86 (Season Best)

Final rank: 2nd (SILVER)
Men's High Jump - T64 Praveen Kumar  Best mark: 2.07 (Asian Record / PB)

Final rank: 2nd (SILVER)
Women's 100m - T13 Simran Sharma Heat timing: 12.69s (5th)

Overall rank: 11th

Throws

Javelin throw at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo continued to remain special for India as Sumit joined Neeraj Chorpa is winning the gold medal. While Jhajharia’s silver was another chapter in a glorious journey, Sundar Singh Gurjar completed a redemption story after having missed his event at Rio 2016 controversially and heartbreakingly. It was a moment to savour for him and Indian athletics with two athletes on the podium.

The fourth-place finish for Sandeep Chaudhary was one of the heartbreaks in Tokyo for India as it was an event where Sumit-Sandeep were even expected to finish 1-2.

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Event Name Results
Men's Shot Put - F35 Arvind Best mark: 13.48

Final rank: 7th
Men's Shot Put - F57 Soman Rana  Best mark: 13.81

Final rank: 4th
Men's Discus Throw - F52 Vinod Kumar Classification not Competed

Final rank: N/A (Declared ineligible for bronze medal)
Men's Discus Throw - F56 Yogesh Kathuniya  Best mark: 44.38 (Season Best)

Final rank: 2nd (SILVER)
Men's Javelin Throw - F41 Navdeep Best mark: 40.80

Final rank: 4th
Men's Javelin Throw - F46 Ajeet Singh  Best mark: 56.15

Final rank: 8th
Sundar Singh Gurjar  Best mark: 64.01 (Season Best)

Final rank: 3rd (BRONZE)
Devendra Jhajharia Best mark: 64.35 (Personal Best)

Final rank: 2nd (SILVER)
Men's Shot Put - F55* Tek Chand Best mark: 9.04 (Season Best)

Final rank: 8th
Men's Javelin Throw - F57 Ranjeet Bhati  Best mark: No mark

Final rank: Not classified
Men's Javelin Throw - F64 Sandeep Chaudhary Best mark: 62.20 (Season Best)

Final rank: 4th
Men's Javelin Throw - F64 Sumit Antil Best mark: 68.55 (World Record)

Final rank: 1st (GOLD)
Men's Club Throw - F51 Dharambir Best mark: 25.59 (Season Best)

Final rank: 8th
Men's Club Throw - F51 Amit Kumar Saroha Best mark: 27.77 (Season Best)

Final rank: 5th
Women's Shot Put - F34 Bhagyashri Jadhav Best mark: 7.00 (Personal Best)

Final rank: 7th
Women's Club Throw - F51 Ekta Bhyan  Best mark: 8.38 (Season Best)
 
Final rank: 8th
Women's Club Throw - F51 Kashish Lakra  Best mark: 12.66 (Season Best)

Final rank: 6th
Reclassified from javelin to shot put

Badminton

Given the pedigree of the shuttlers who went to Tokyo, so much was expected from the Indian badminton contingent and they largely lived up to their billing with the top seed in SL3 Pramod Bhagat and second seed in SH6 Krishna Nagar clinching two gold medals. Suhas Yathiraj nearly pulled off one of the upsets of the Games but eventually finished second after losing against top seed Lucas Mazur in the final. The fourth medal came from Manoj Sarkar, who had the chance to set up an all-Indian final but eventually finished with bronze in SL3 alongside Bhagat.

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In Palak Kohli, India have a teenage shuttler capable of big results at the world stage and she showed her fighting spirit and shot-making abilities in spades, reaching the quarter-final in singles and coming close to a medal with Bhagat in mixed doubles. The Indian pair pulled off a massive upset by defeating the world No 3 pair in their group and lost a hard-fought battle in the bronze playoff.

Parul Parmar and Tarun Dhillon also returned without podium finishes. Parmar, the 48-year-old veteran, however, seemed to enjoy her time on the court, battling through tough matches in her non-preferred category. Perhaps, the disappointment was only from Tarun, who started with two wins but couldn’t get past the finish line in his last three matches and paid the price.

All in all, a superb campaign.

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Event Name Age
Men's Singles SL3 Pramod Bhagat  Record: Played 4, won 4

Rank: 1st (GOLD)
Men's Singles SL3 Manoj Sarkar  Record: Played 4, won 2

Rank: 3rd (BRONZE)
Men's Singles SL4 Suhas Yathiraj  Record: Played 5, won 3

Rank: 2nd (SILVER)
Men's Singles SL4 Tarun Dhillon Record: Played 5, won 2

Rank: 4th
Men's Singles SH6 Krishna Nagar Record: Played 4, won 4

Rank: 1st (GOLD)
Women's Singles SL4 Parul Parmar  Record: Played 2, lost 2

Rank: 5th
Women's Singles SU5 Palak Kohli  Record: Played 3, won 1

Rank: 5th
Women's Doubles SL3-SU5 Palak Kohli-Parul Parmar Record: Played 2, lost 2

Rank: 5th
Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5 Pramod Bhagat-Palak Kohli Record: Played 4, won 1

Rank: 4th

Canoe Sprint

In a discipline making its debut at the Games, India’s first Paralympian to be a part of canoe sprint – Prachi Yadav – finished a creditable eighth overall, after reaching the final. She finished the race in 1:07.329s.

Prachi had earlier qualified for the medal final by finishing a superb third in the semi-final among five athletes with a timing of 1:07.397s.

Event Name Results
Women's Va'a Single 200m - VL2 Prachi Yadav Heat: 4th, through to SF

Semifinal: 3rd, through to Final A

Final: 8th 

Powerlifting

vent Name Results
Men's -65 kg Jai Deep Best attempt: No measure 

Rank: N/A
Women's -50 kg Sakina Khatun Best attempt: 93kg 

Rank: 5th

Shooting

After the disappointments of the Olympic Games, the Asaka Shooting Range brought plenty of cheer for Indian fans at the Paralympic Games. With only one finalist at the Olympic Games being a disappointing return, the Paralympic Games saw multiple final appearances, two teenagers winning gold medals (with one of them adding another), and a veteran winning multiple medals as well. There were couple of heartbreaks thrown in there for good measure too.

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Pistol

Singhraj Adhana and Manish Narwal provided one of the best moments of the Games for India with their 1-2 finish in the 50m pistol event. The 19-year-old Narwal topped the qualification in the 10m event but the veteran clinched the medal there. Rubina Francis and Rahul Jakhar were among the finalists, with the latter coming close to a medal finish.

Event Name Results
P1 - Men's 10m Air Pistol SH1 Manish Narwal  Qualification rank: 1st

Final rank: 7th
Deepender Singh  Qualification rank: 10th

Final rank: N/A
Singhraj Qualification rank: 6th

Final rank: 3rd (BRONZE)
P2 - Women's 10m Air Pistol SH1 Rubina Francis  Qualification rank: 7th

Final rank: 7th
P3 - Mixed 25m Pistol SH1 Akash Qualification rank: 20th

Final rank: N/A
Rahul Jakhar Qualification rank: 2nd

Final rank: 5th
P4 - Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 Akash Qualification rank: 27th

Final rank: N/A
Manish Narwal  Qualification rank: 7th

Final rank: 1st (GOLD, PR)
Singhraj Qualification rank: 4th

Final rank: 2nd (SILVER)

Rifle

The star of the show was none other than 19-year-old Avani Lekhara, who became the first Indian woman to win a Paralympics gold medal and also the first Indian woman to multiple Paralympics medals.

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Elsewhere, Swaroop Unhalkar was minutes away from ensuring a podium finish but paid the price for a bad series by finishing fourth. In India’s final shooting event, Sidhartha Babu missed out on a spot in the final by a mere 0.2 points.

Event Name Results
R1 - Men's 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 Deepak Qualification rank: 20th

Final rank: N/A
Swaroop Mahavir Unhalkar  Qualification rank: 7th

Final rank: 4th
R2 - Women's 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 Avani Lekhara  Qualification rank: 7th

Final rank: 1st (GOLD, equal WR)
R3 - Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1 Sidhartha Babu  Qualification rank: 40th

Final rank: N/A
Deepak Qualification rank: 43rd

Final rank: N/A
Avani Lekhara  Qualification rank: 27th
 
Final rank: N/A
R6 - Mixed 50m Rifle Prone SH1 Sidhartha Babu  Qualification rank: 9th

Final rank: N/A
Deepak Qualification rank: 46th

Final rank: N/A
Avani Lekhara  Qualification rank: 28th

Final rank: N/A 
R7 - Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1 Deepak Qualification rank: 18th

Final rank: N/A
R8 - Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1 Avani Lekhara  Qualification rank: 2nd

Final rank: 3rd (BRONZE)

Swimming

Event Name Results
Men's 100m Breaststroke - SB7 Suyash Narayan Jadhav  Disqualified
Men's 50m Butterfly - S7 Suyash Narayan Jadhav  Heat timing: 32.36

Overall heat rank: 10th
Mukundan Niranjan Heat timing: 33.82

Overall heat rank: 11th
Men's 200m Individual Medley - SM7 Suyash Narayan Jadhav  Withdrawn

Table tennis

If ever there was an example for stepping up to the challenge at the big event, Bhavina Patel provided that on her way to the silver medal. Sonal Patel, in class 3, came close to pulling off an upset in her opening match but a tough group made it difficult for her to progress. And in the team event, with one win guaranteeing a medal, the Indians had to face China in the quarter-final and that was a bridge too far.

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Bhavina Patel (ranked 12) at Tokyo 2020:

Lost against world No 1 Zhou Ying in Group A

Defeated world No 9 Megan Shackleton in a must-win Group A match.

Defeated world No 8 Joyce de Oliveira in R16.

Defeated world No 2 & Rio 2016 gold medallist Borislava Peric Rankovic in QF.

Defeated world No 3 & Rio 2016 silver medallist Zhang Miao in SF.

Lost against world No 1 Zhou Ying in final

How Bhavina Patel kept calm and carried on for a massive SF win

Event Name Age
Women's Team - Classes 4-5 Bhavinaben  Patel & Sonalben Patel  Lost in quarterfinal vs China

Rank: 5th
Women's Singles - Class 3 Sonalben Patel  Lost in group stages.

Rank: NA
Women's Singles - Class 4 Bhavinaben Patel  Group stage: Lost 1, won 1
Round of 16: Defeated world No 8
Quarterfinal: Defeated world No 2
Semifinal: Defeated world No 3
Final: Lost to world No 1 

Rank: 2nd (SILVER)

Taekwondo

Like badminton, another event making its Paralympics debut. There was heartbreak for the Indian camp here, though, as 21-year-old Aruna Tanwar had to withdraw from repechage rounds after starting the day brightly by upsetting the fifth seed. She is then reported to have fought her quarter-final bout with probable fractures and lost to the eventual champion. The injuries meant she could not take part in the repechage round for bronze medal.

Even Name Result
Women K44 -49kg Aruna Tanwar Bouts: Won R16, lost in QF, withdrew from repechage 

Final ranking: Withdrawn

More details about India’s Paralympic Games campaign in our Twitter thread:

Full list of India's 19 medals

Name Sport Event Medal Name
Sumit Antil Athletics Men's Javelin Throw - F64 GOLD Sport Class: F64
Pramod Bhagat Badminton Men's Singles SL3 GOLD Sport Class: SL3
Krishna Nagar Badminton Men's Singles SH6 GOLD Sports Class: SH6
Manish Narwal Shooting P4 - Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 GOLD  Sport Class: SH1
Avani Lekhara Shooting R2 - Women's 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 GOLD Sport Class: SH1
Yogesh Kathuniya Athletics Men's Discus Throw - F56 SILVER Sport Class: F56
Nishad Kumar Athletics Men's High Jump - T47 SILVER Sport Class: T47
Mariyappan Thangavelu Athletics Men's High Jump - T63 SILVER Sport Class: T42
Praveen Kumar Athletics Men's High Jump - T64 SILVER Sport Class: T44
Devendra Jhajharia Athletics Men's Javelin Throw - F46 SILVER Sport Class: F46
Suhas Yathiraj Badminton Men's Singles SL4 SILVER Sport Class: SL4
Singhraj Adhana Shooting P4 - Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 SILVER Sport Class: SH1
Bhavina Patel Table Tennis Women's Singles - Class 4 SILVER Sport Class: 4
Harvinder Singh Archery Men's Individual Recurve - Open BRONZE Sport Class: ST
Sharad Kumar Athletics Men's High Jump - T63 BRONZE Sport Class: T42
Sundar Singh Gurjar Athletics Men's Javelin Throw - F46 BRONZE  Sport Class: F46
Manoj Sarkar Badminton Men's Singles SL3 BRONZE Sport Class: SL3
Singhraj Adhana Shooting P1 - Men's 10m Air Pistol SH1 BRONZE Sport Class: SH1
Avani Lekhara Shooting R8 - Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1 BRONZE Sport Class: SH1

With inputs from PTI and Tokyo 2020 official website