The gold medal in men's javelin throw F46 category in the Rio Paralympics made Devendra Jhajharia the most successful Indian para athlete ever but he is in no mood to stop here and is eyeing for a treble in the 2020 Tokyo Games. The 35-year-old Jhajharia, a left-hand amputee, is the only Indian para athlete to have won two gold medals in the Paralympics, the earlier one being the yellow metal he won in 2004 Athens. "I am not stopping here after the Rio success. I have enough gas in my tank and I will definitely go for gold in Tokyo. I know my body and I can still train two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening rigorously everyday, just like I did in the build-up to the Rio Paralympics," Jhajharia told PTI in an interview.
Indian para athletes clinched five medals, including one gold, at the second Kuwait International Open Athletics Championship and so far booked four Paralympic quota places.
Deepa Malik, who won the silver medal at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, said she is happy to see Bhavinaben Patel carry forward her legacy of winning a medal at the Games.
Women's hockey team captain Rani Rampal and men's skipper Manpreet Singh also wished the paralympians.
She is the first Indian woman to win a medal in Paralympic Games.
Gurjar came up with his season's best effort of 61.22m to claim the top spot.
How athletes have strived for achieving greatness during extraordinary times.
Left bed-ridden for close to 10 years after falling off a cliff, Indian discus thrower Vinod Kumar scripted an astonishing tale of resilience by clinching a bronze medal in the men's F52 event at the Tokyo Paralympics on Sunday but a protest has put his celebrations on hold for now.
Khodadadi, 23, and track athlete Hossain Rasouli had been scheduled to arrive in Tokyo on Tuesday but were unable to fly out.
This was due to the fact that they had already won the Khel Ratna, the country's highest sporting honour.
Congratulating Suhas Yathiraj, an IAS officer who won a silver medal at the Paralympics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday described him as a fantastic confluence of service and sports who has captured the imagination of the entire nation.
'Javelin has now taken a boost in the country and after my medal now 50 students have approached my coach for training. I feel like a star now.'
Unlike the Olympics that was widely covered, the Rio Paralympics set to begin tomorrow will not have any television coverage in India as it failed to attract any national broadcasters after a city-based NGO on Tuesday highlighted the "discrimination" of the para athletes. With no television coverage, a city-based NGO who works with the para athletes today highlighted the plight of the para athletes in India and appealed for proper media coverage to give the athletes their due credit
'To the youth, I will say work hard. One minute of work will not get you anything. I have worked hard for the past 20 years, 2002 was the first time I won a gold medal.'
Mariayappan Thangavelu on Tuesday rued that rain foiled his bid for a second consecutive gold medal at the Paralympics, saying the wet sock did not let him give his best in the T42 event in Tokyo.
The government has announced cash awards of Rs. 90 lakhs for Rio Paralympics 2016 medal winners.
The 36-year-old Jhajharia, who is the first Indian to win two Paralympic gold medals, was the first choice of the awards selection committee.
A summary of Indian athletes' performance on Wednesday, Day 6 of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Indian sporting fraternity on Saturday hailed shooters Manish Narwal and Singhraj Adana's 1-2 finish at the Paralympics, terming the feat as "stuff of dreams", with President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also lauding the duo for bringing glory to the country.
Images of the Padma Shri conferred on sports stars on Thursday
Flag bearer Tek Chand will lead the Indian contingent -- India will be represented by 54 para athletes, the biggest ever contingent in the history of the Games.
'Neeraj's gold medal can be a turning point for the game in India. India's first Olympic medal in track and field and that too a gold.'
Tokyo Olympics-bound Indian athletes attended a cultural sensitivity workshop, named 'Omotenashi', on Thursday. Conducted by the Sports Ministry, 'Omotenashi' (the Japanese version of Atithi devo bhava) was organised by the Sports Authority of India, in association with the Indian Olympic Association.
Seven Olympic and six Paralympic disciplines were identified for support at a meeting of the Mission Olympic Cell.
The process to pick this year's national sports awards has been delayed because of the nation-wide lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic and the applications will be invited next month, a Sports Ministry official said. The ministry generally invites the nominations for the awards in April while the ceremony to confer them is held on August 29 on the occasion of National Sports Day celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand.
There have also been recent cases where qualification tournaments were cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation. While the IOA chief does feel for the athletes, he says these things need to be looked into by the federations.
Ekta Bhyan won India's fourth gold at the Asian Para Games by topping the women's club throw event in Jakarta.
Sachin Tendulkar donated Rs 4.5 lakh to the Indian wheelchair cricket team, which helped them successfully complete their first international tour of Bangladesh.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Coaches Jayanta Pushilal and S Raman have been nominated for the Dronacharya honour.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
The player is survived by wife and two children.
The Indian contingent suffered a jolt on Tuesday with two athletes pulling out of the Commonwealth Games, starting in Glasgow on Wednesday.
Ace Indian sprinter Dutee Chand said the Arjuna Award will motivate her to win a prestigious Olympic medal at the Tokyo Games next year.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) on Sunday banned all Russians from its own Games next month because of the widespread doping culture that it says has polluted sport in the country.
Para-athlete Anandan Gunasekaran clinched his third gold and javelin thrower Shivpal Singh added another for the country as India continued their fine showing at the ongoing 7th CISM World Military Games, in Wuhan, China, on Thursday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
The sessions on opening day was attended by athletes and para athletes from all sport, including Olympic probables shooters Divyash Panwar, Apurvi Chandela, Abhishek Verma, Anish Bhanwala, boxers Lovlina Borgohain and Nikhat Zarin along with swimmer Srihari Nataraj. The first session of the 24-series workshop started on Friday with physiotherapist Dr. Nikhil Latey speaking about how to train at home during the time of Corona, getting over 8K views.
The Tokyo Olympics should be called off to spare athletes the "stress" of trying to train in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, UK Athletics chairman Nic Coward said on Friday.
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