The Tokyo Paralympics has been no less than a dream tournament for India. So far, India has won 10 medals comprising 2 Gold, 5 Silver and 3 Bronze. This is the best figure of Indian contingent ever. This time, our athletes outdid India’s previous best medal tally of 4 in Rio Olympics 2016. Today, India won 1 Silver and 2 Bronze. So far, we are in the Top 30 and chances are that we will remain in the Top 30. This is commendable and reflects a clear picture of improvement not only from the athlete's end but from the sports administration end too. In Rio, the Indian contingent went with 19 athletes while this time 54 athletes are participating. This is truly commendable and shows the conviction that the Indian government has shown towards sports in India.
Coming to today’s events, Mariyappan Thangavelu won a Silver medal and Sharad Kumar won Bronze in High Jump. On the other hand, Singhraj Adhana won a Bronze medal in 10m Air Pistol SH1.
Before this, on Monday, Indian shooter Avani Lekhara wrote history by becoming the first-ever female athlete from the country to win the gold medal at the Paralympic Games. The 19-year-old shooter fired her way to the podium in the women’s 10m air rifle event. She signed off from the colossal event with a world record-equaling score of 249.6, which is now a Paralympics record.
India’s athletics team also had a successful outing in Tokyo on Monday. The biggest winner in athletics was Sumit Antil, who won the gold medal in the men’s javelin F64 event. Sumit threw a gigantic throw of 68.55m in his fifth attempt to set a new world record and guided India to their second gold medal in the ongoing Paralympic Games.
Yogesh Kathuniya started the day with a silver medal in the men’s discus throw event. In his sixth and last attempt, the 24-year-old threw the disc to 44.38m, his best attempt in the tournament to take the silver medal home.
On the other hand, veteran javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia once again had a podium finish in the Paralympics as he clinched a silver medal in the men’s javelin throw F46 final.
Overall, it was the best day for India in the Paralympics so far.
Seems like Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has had a big impact on our athletes. The way he connects with athletes fills an athlete with inspiration and motivation. We saw how lovingly he fed ice cream and choorma to our Olympic athletes PV Sindhu and Neeraj Chopra respectively. He personally met with every athlete and motivated them to excel in upcoming tournaments. Never ever have we seen such a generous PM who personally greets our athletes and motivates them.
Nothing changed in the case of Paralympics. He virtually met with para athletes and greeted them before the tournament. PM Modi virtually interacted with Tokyo-bound stars, including 2016 Rio edition gold winners Devendra Jhajharia and Mariyappan Thangavelu, and urged them to compete without pressure. In 2016, India sent its contingent of 19 competitors, the largest till that Paralympics.
Modi has also emphasised on increasing the prize money for para-athletes so that more and more such athletes could be inspired. Based on the revised circular which created a separate category for Para Sports and included events such as the Paralympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games etc for para-athletes, Paralympians will be awarded the exact same as their Olympic counterparts. Paralympians will receive Rs 75 lakhs for winning gold, Rs 50 lakhs for silver and Rs 30 lakhs for winning the bronze medal.
Since 2016, para-athletes are being given the revised prize money. In 2012, it was 50 lakhs, 30 lakhs and 20 lakhs for Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively. This means the Modi Government has increased the prize money 1.5 times.
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