[Watch] Double-Medallist Avani Lekhara Leads India At Paralympics Closing Ceremony

Tokyo: The Tokyo Paralympics came to an end on Sunday with India winning a record 19 medals.

Avani Lekhara, the 19-year-old shooter who bagged a gold and bronze medal each at the fortnight-long Games, led the Indian contingent as she had the honour of carrying the Tricolour during the closing ceremony.

Eleven members of the Indian contingent attended the colourful ceremony.

Watch the video here, courtesy Deepa Malik’s Twitter account:

#WATCH | Japan: 19-year-old shooter Avani Lekhara, who won gold & bronze medals at the Tokyo Paralympics, led the Indian contingent during the closing ceremony of the Games

(Video courtesy: Paralympic Committee of India President Deepa Malik’s Twitter account) pic.twitter.com/cIRqzeilzf

— ANI (@ANI) September 5, 2021

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games took place between August 24 and September 5 and it featured 539 medal events across 22 sports.

A 54-strong Indian contingent took part in the Tokyo Games across nine disciplines, winning 5 gold – including Odisha’s Pramod Bhagat in badminton — 8 silver and 6 bronze medals. How impressive that performance was can be gauged from the fact that since making their Paralympics debut in 1968, India had won only 12 medals till the 2016 Rio edition.

Of the 162 nations which took part at the Tokyo Games, India finished 24th in the medals tally. In terms of number of medals won (19), India ranked 20th.

INDIA’S MEDALLISTS

Gold — Avani Lekhara (women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1), Pramod Bhagat (men’s singles SL3 badminton), Krishna Nagar (men’s singles SH6 badminton), Sumit Antil (men’s javelin F64), Manish Narwal (men’s Mixed 50m Pistol SH1).

Silver — Bhavinaben Patel (women’s Singles Class 4 table tennis), Singhraj Adhana (men’s Mixed 50m Pistol SH1), Yogesh Kathuniya (men’s Discus F56), Nishad Kumar (men’s High Jump T47), Mariyappan Thangavelu (men’s High Jump T63), Praveen Kumar (men’s High Jump T64), Devendra Jhajharia (men’s Javelin F46), Suhas Yathiraj (men’s Singles Badminton SL4).

Bronze — Avani Lekhara (women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1), Harvinder Singh (men’s Individual Recurve Archery), Sharad Kumar (men’s High Jump T63), Sundar Singh Gurjar (men’s Javelin F46), Manoj Sarkar (men’s Singles Badminton SL3), Singhraj Adhana (men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1).