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The Tokyo Paralympics 2020-21 is a major multisport international parasport event governed by the International Paralympic Games. The Tokyo Paralympics plays a major role in encouraging people with disabilities to showcase their talents in various fields of sports. It also aims to change people’s perception of physical and mental disabilities, hence Tokyo Paralympics is as important as the Tokyo Olympics. Read this blog to know everything about the upcoming Tokyo Paralympics 2020.
This Blog Includes:
Latest Updates on Tokyo Paralympics 2020
- Sumit Antil not only won gold, but he also broke the world record three times in the men’s javelin (F64) event at the Tokyo Paralympics on Monday. Sumit Antil’s world-record effort earned India its second gold medal in the Paralympics in Tokyo, which are now underway.
- Singhraj Adhana won the bronze medal in the P1 Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 final with 216.8 points. Manish Narwal, the other Indian in the competition, ended in seventh place. This is India’s second bronze medal of the competition, bringing the country’s total to eight – two gold, four silver, and two bronze.
- Avani Lekhara created history on 30th August, 2021, Monday by becoming the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic gold medal, blasting her way to the top of the podium in the R-2 women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 event. The 19-year-old Jaipur native, who suffered spinal cord damage in a car collision in 2012, ended with a world record-equaling total of 249.6, which also set a new Paralympic record.
- It was a bright start to the day for India on August 26th, 2021, when Bhavinaben Patel booked her berth in the knockout stages of the Paralympics at the Tokyo Paralympics 2020. Bhavina faced Megan Shackleton of Great Britain in a match that she won 3-1.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi applauded the Indian contingent and wished them success in the tournament during the Opening Ceremony. On Tuesday, the Tokyo Paralympic Games began with a ceremony at the Olympic Stadium in the Japanese capital. Prime Minister Narendra Modi rushed to Twitter to wish the Indian team success ahead of the Games, and he also uploaded a video of himself cheering them on while watching the opening ceremony.
- After Mariyappan Thangavelu was quarantined as a close contact of a Covid positive individual on his trip to Tokyo, javelin thrower Tek Chand was designated the new flagbearer of the Indian contingent for the opening ceremony.
- On Tuesday, 24th August 2021, the Afghanistan flag was raised at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Paralympic Games 2020. Two Afghan competitors were scheduled to compete at the Paralympic Games until Afghanistan’s National Paralympic Committee (NPC) backed out owing to aircraft cancellations from Kabul. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) previously stated that the flag will be displayed in Tokyo as a symbol of solidarity and peace. IPC President Andrew Parsons stated in the announcement, “We will incorporate the Afghanistan flag in the Ceremony as a gesture of support.”
- Tokyo 2020 has become the largest Paralympic Games in history, with a record number of competitors competing. Furthermore, more female athletes than ever before will compete in the postponed Games, which commenced on Tuesday, 24th August 2021. Japan has the most athletes in the Games, with 254, nearly doubling their representation from Rio 2016. There will be a total of 4,403 competitors competing in 22 sports and 23 disciplines (2,550 male/1,853 female). Rio 2016 had the previous record for the most athletes at a Games with 4,328, therefore Tokyo currently holds the record for the most athletes at the Paralympics.
Schedule for Tokyo Paralympics 2020
The Tokyo Paralympics 2020 is scheduled to be held in Tokyo, Japan from 24th August 2021 to 5th September 2021. Interestingly, Tokyo Paralympics 2021 marks the second summer Paralympics to be hosted by Tokyo since the 1964 Paralympics games and the third Paralympics to be held in Japan since the 1998 Winter Paralympics. The schedule for the Tokyo Paralympics 2020 is as follows:
| Date | First Week Events |
| August 24, 2021 | Opening ceremony |
| August 25, 2021 | Cycling track, Goalball, Swimming, Table tennis, Wheelchair basketball, Wheelchair Fencing, Wheelchair rugby |
| August 26, 2021 | Cycling track, Equestrian, Goalball, Powerlifting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Wheelchair Basketball, Wheelchair Fencing, Wheelchair rugby |
| August 27, 2021 | Archery, Athletics, Cycling track, Equestrian, Goalball, Judo, Powerlifting, Rowing, Sitting Volleyball, Swimming, Table tennis, Wheelchair basketball, Wheelchair Fencing, Wheelchair rugby, Wheelchair tennis |
| August 28, 2021 | Archery, Athletics, Boccia, Cycling track, Equestrian, Goalball, Judo, Powerlifting, Rowing, Sitting Volleyball, Swimming, Table tennis, Triathlon, Wheelchair basketball, Wheelchair Fencing, Wheelchair rugby, Wheelchair tennis |
| August 29, 2021 | Archery, Athletics, Boccia, Equestrian, Football 5-a-side, Goalball, Judo, Powerlifting, Rowing, Sitting Volleyball, Swimming, Table tennis, Triathlon, Wheelchair basketball, Wheelchair Fencing, Wheelchair rugby, Wheelchair tennis |
| August 30, 2021 | Archery, Athletics, Boccia, Equestrian, Football, Goalball, Powerlifting, Shooting, Sitting Volleyball, Swimming, Table tennis, Wheelchair basketball, Wheelchair tennis |
| August 31, 2021 | Archery, Athletics, Boccia, Cycling road, Football, Goalball, Shooting, Sitting Volleyball, Swimming, Table tennis, Wheelchair basketball, Wheelchair tennis |
| September 1, 2021 | Athletics, Badminton, Boccia, Cycling road, Goalball, Shooting, Sitting Volleyball, Swimming, Table tennis, Wheelchair basketball, Wheelchair tennis |
Also Read: Meet Deepika Kumari – India’s Shooting-Star
| Date | Second Week Events |
| September 2, 2021 | Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Boccia, Canoe sprint, Cycling road, Football 5-a-side, Goalball, Shooting, Sitting Volleyball, Swimming, Table tennis, Taekwondo, Wheelchair basketball, Wheelchair tennis |
| September 3, 2021 | Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Boccia, Canoe sprint, Cycling road, Goalball, Shooting, Sitting Volleyball, Swimming, Table tennis, Taekwondo, Wheelchair basketball, Wheelchair tennis |
| September 4, 2021 | Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Boccia, Canoe sprint, Football, Shooting, Sitting Volleyball, Taekwondo, Wheelchair basketball, Wheelchair tennis |
| September 5, 2021 | Closing ceremony, Athletics, Badminton, Shooting, Sitting volleyball, Wheelchair basketball |
Preparations for Tokyo Paralympics 2020
Torch Relay
A torch relay is held before the official beginning of the Olympics and Paralympics. Throughout the torch relay, the flame announces the commencement of the Olympics and Paralympics games as well as spreading the message of peace and friendship between people and the participants. The torch relay ends at the opening ceremony of the Olympics and Paralympics games.
For the Tokyo Paralympics 2020, the torch relay is scheduled to be held between 18th August 2021 to 21st August 2021. The torch relay will be held throughout the four prefectures that will be co-hosting the Paralympics events until the commencement of the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Paralympics.
Security Protocols
It is expected that the Tokyo Paralympics will be held with no spectators due to the rising cases of Covid-19. The organizing committee has discussed possible alternatives for spectator presence such as local school students. This tactic was also expected during the Tokyo Olympics, however, they were dismissed because of the pandemic. Additionally, the countermeasures that are to be adopted by the participants of the Tokyo Paralympics are as follows :
- Avoid the 3Cs ( Closed Spaces, Crowded Places, Close Contact)
- Prevent droplet transmission and contact infection by wearing proper face masks.
- Thorough sterilisation and disinfection through frequent hand-washing and sanitation.
- Restriction of the spectator participation, instead watches live-streamed transmission.
- Thoroughly manage and monitor health conditions and swift reporting of any sickness or positive Covid-19 result.
Medals
Just like the Tokyo Olympics 2020, the medals of the Tokyo Paralympics 2020 will be made with the help of recycled metals obtained through the electronics recycling program. The unique features of the medal include :
- The design of the medal is inspired by traditional folding hand fans which symbolise the shared experience of the Paralympics participants. The alternating sectors contain textured areas which visually and tactually depict rocks, flowers, wood, leaves, and water to symbolise the geology of Japan.
- Also, in the medal, the area where the pivot meets the fan represents the unity of Paralympic athletes.
- The sides of the medal contain an untextured version of the fan pattern, the Paralympic emblem, and inscriptions in braille.
- Additionally, To help those with visual impairments, the edges and ribbons of the medals contain one, two, or three circular indentations and silicone convex dots for gold, silver, and bronze medals respectively so that they can be easily identified by touch.
Also Read: Life Lessons We Can Learn From Sports
Sports Events at Tokyo Paralympics 2020
The Tokyo Paralympics 2021 will see the introduction of badminton and taekwondo to the existing events, in place of sailing and 7-a-side football. It is anticipated that 540 events in 22 sports will be held as a part of the Tokyo Paralympics. While team events such as goalball, sitting volleyball, and wheelchair basketball will continue as men’s and women’s events, Wheelchair Rugby is a mixed event. Also, the 5-a-side-football is only open for men participants.
The sports events are as follows :
- Archery
- Athletics
- Badminton
- Boccia
- Cycling
- Road
- Track
- Equestrian
- Football 5-a-side
- Goalball
- Judo
- Paracanoe
- Paratriathlon
- Powerlifting
- Rowing
- Shooting
- Sitting Volleyball
- Swimming
- Table Tennis
- Taekwondo
- Wheelchair Basketball
- Wheelchair fencing
- Wheelchair Rugby
- Wheelchair Tennis
Must Read: Explore the Smashing Story of PV Sindhu, the Badminton World Champion of India!
Participating Nations
As of 16th August 2021, 135 National Participating Committees (NPC) have qualified for the Tokyo Paralympics. Also, major highlights include :
- Since Russia has been banned from the games for a period of four years by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on grounds of tampering with their WADA results, WADA has allowed the participation of individually cleared Russian Athletes under the neutral banner of Russian Paralympics Committee (RPC).
- Bhutan and Guyana will make their debut in the Tokyo Paralympics 2020.
- The Solomon Islands will make their second appearance at the Tokyo Paralympics 2020, after missing the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
There are around 3677 athletes that will be participating from 135 National Participating Committees.
| Country | No. of Athletes | Country | No. of Athletes | Country | No. of Athletes |
| Algeria | 42 | Grenada | 1 | Oman | 2 |
| Angola | 2 | Guatemala | 2 | Pakistan | 1 |
| Argentina | 37 | Guinea | 2 | Palestine | 1 |
| Australia | 177 | Guyana | 1 | Panama | 3 |
| Austria | 24 | Hong Kong | 17 | Papua New Guinea | 1 |
| Azerbaijan | 12 | Hungary | 32 | Paraguay | 2 |
| Bahrain | 2 | Iceland | 2 | Peru | 4 |
| Belarus | 11 | India | 54 | Philippines | 6 |
| Belgium | 31 | Indonesia | 23 | Poland | 89 |
| Bermuda | 1 | Iran | 48 | Portugal | 33 |
| Bhutan | 3 | Iraq | 5 | Puerto Rico | 2 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 13 | Ireland | 29 | Qatar | 1 |
| Botswana | 2 | Israel | 33 | Refugee Paralympic Team | 6 |
| Brazil | 253 | Italy | 113 | Romania | 2 |
| Bulgaria | 3 | Ivory Coast | 3 | Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) | 181 |
| Burundi | 2 | Jamaica | 2 | Rwanda | 12 |
| Cambodia | 1 | Japan | 175 | Saudi Arabia | 2 |
| Cameroon | 3 | Jordan | 2 | Senegal | 1 |
| Canada | 128 | Kazakhstan | 7 | Serbia | 17 |
| Cape Verde | 1 | Kenya | 3 | Singapore | 7 |
| Central African Republic | 1 | Kuwait | 1 | Slovakia | 17 |
| Chile | 20 | Latvia | 4 | Slovenia | 4 |
| China | 230 | Lebanon | 1 | Solomon Islands | 1 |
| Chinese Taipei | 10 | Lesotho | 1 | South Africa | 18 |
| Colombia | 34 | Libya | 1 | South Korea | 66 |
| Costa Rica | 2 | Lithuania | 24 | Spain | 139 |
| Croatia | 22 | Luxembourg | 1 | Sri Lanka | 9 |
| Cuba | 5 | Malaysia | 22 | Sweden | 26 |
| Cyprus | 1 | Mali | 2 | Switzerland | 9 |
| Czech Republic | 28 | Mauritius | 3 | Syria | 1 |
| Denmark | 22 | Mexico | 37 | Thailand | 41 |
| Dominican Republic | 3 | Moldova | 4 | Trinidad and Tobago | 2 |
| Ecuador | 4 | Mongolia | 4 | Tunisia | 26 |
| Egypt | 30 | Montenegro | 1 | Turkey | 87 |
| El Salvador | 2 | Morocco | 25 | Turkmenistan | 1 |
| Estonia | 5 | Mozambique | 2 | Uganda | 3 |
| Ethiopia | 1 | Myanmar | 1 | Ukraine | 107 |
| Fiji | 1 | Namibia | 1 | United Arab Emirates | 5 |
| Finland | 10 | Netherlands | 48 | United States | 174 |
| France | 61 | New Zealand | 45 | Uzbekistan | 20 |
| Georgia | 4 | Nicaragua | 1 | Vanuatu | 1 |
| Germany | 135 | Nigeria | 9 | Venezuela | 8 |
| Ghana | 2 | North Macedonia | 1 | Vietnam | 7 |
| Great Britain | 139 | Norway | 10 | Zambia | 1 |
| Greece | 43 | Zimbabwe | 1 |
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Indian Contingents at Tokyo Paralympics 2020
At the Tokyo Paralympics 2020, 54 Indian Athletes will be competing across 9 sports:
| Sport | Men | Women | Total |
| Archery | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Athletics | 20 | 4 | 24 |
| Badminton | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| Paracanoeing | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Powerlifting | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Shooting | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| Swimming | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Table Tennis | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Taekwondo | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 40 | 14 | 54 |
Archery
- Date: 27th August 2021
| Men’s Recurve Individual Open | Harvinder Singh, Vivek Chikara |
| Men’s Compound Individual Open | Rakesh Kumar, Shyam Sundar Swami |
| Women’s Compound Individual Open | Jyoti Baliyan |
| Jyoti Baliyan | Jyoti Baliyan |
Badminton
- Date: 1st September 2021
| Men’s Singles SL3 | Pramod Bhagat, Manoj Sarkar |
| Women’s Singles SU5 | Palak Kohli |
| Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5 | Pramod Bhagat & Palak Kohli |
- Date: 2nd September 2021
| Men’s Singles SL4 | Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj, Tarun Dhillon |
| Men’s Singles SS6 | Krishna Nagar |
| Women’s Singles SL4 | Parul Parmar |
| Women’s Doubles SL3-SU5 | Parul Parmar & Palak Kohli |
Paracanoeing
- Date: 2nd September 2021
| Women’s VL2 | Prachi Yadav |
Powerlifting
- Date: 27th August 2021
| Men’s 65 Kg | Jaideep Deswal |
| Women’s 50 Kg | Sakina Khatun |
Table Tennis
- Date: 25th August 2021
| Individual C3 | Sonalben Madhubhai Patel |
| Individual C4 | Bhavina Hasmukhbhai Patel |
Taekwondo
- Date: 2nd September 2021
| Women’s K44 – 49 kg | Aruna Tanwar |
Shooting
- Date: 30th August 2021
| Men’s R1 – 10 m air rifle standing SH1 | Swaroop Mahavir Unhalkar, Deepak Saini |
| Women’s R2 – 10 m air rifle SH1 | Avani Lekhara |
- Date: 31st August 2021
| Men’s P1 – 10 m air pistol SH1 | Manish Narwal, Deepender Singh, Singhraj |
| Women’s P2 – 10 m air pistol SH1 | Rubina Francis |
- Date: 4th September 2021
| Mixed R3 – 10 m air rifle prone SH1 | Deepak Saini, Sidhartha Babu & Avani Lekhara |
- Date: 2nd September 2021
| Mixed P3 – 25 m pistol SH1 | Akash & Rahul Jakhar |
- Date: 3rd September 2021
| Men’s R7 – 50 m rifle 3 positions SH1 | Deepak Saini |
| Women’s R8 – 50 m rifle 3 positions SH1 | Avani Lekhara |
- Date: 4th September 2021
| Mixed P4 – 50 m pistol SH1 | Akash, Manish Narwal & Singhraj |
- Date: 5th September 2021
| Mixed R6 – 50 m rifle prone SH1 | Deepak Saini, Avani Lekhara & Sidhartha Babu |
Athletics
- Date: 28th August 2021
| Men’s Javelin Throw F57 | Ranjeet Bhati |
- Date: 29th August 2021
| Men’s Discus Throw F52 | Vinod Kumar |
| Men’s High Jump T47 | Nishad Kumar, Ram Pal |
- Date: 30th August 2021
| Men’s Discus Throw F56 | Yogesh Kathuniya |
| Men’s Javelin Throw F46 | Sundar Singh Gurjar, Ajeet Singh, Devendra Jhajharia |
| Men’s Javelin Throw F64 | Sumit Antil, Sandeep Choudhary |
- Date: 31st August 2021
| Men’s High Jump T63 | Sharad Kumar, Mariyappan Thangavelu, Varun Singh Bhati |
| Women’s 100m T13 | Simran |
| Women’s Shot Put F34 | Bhagyashri Madavrao Jadhav |
- Date: 1st September 2021
| Men’s Club Throw F51 | Dharambir Nain, Amit Kumar Saroha |
- Date: 2nd September 2021
| Men’s Shot Put F35 | Arvind Malik |
- Date: 3rd September 2021
| Men’s High Jump T64 | Praveen Kumar |
| Men’s Javelin Throw F54 | Tek Chand |
| Men’s Shot Put F57 | Soman Rana |
| Women’s Club Throw F51 | Ekta Bhyan, Kashish Lakra |
- Date: 4th September 2021
| Men’s Javelin Throw F41 | Navdeep Singh |
Also Read: Meet Deepa Malik, the Extraordinary Paralympian
Marketing of Tokyo Paralympics
Logo
The logo of the Tokyo Paralympic 2021 features a hand fan in a circle form, filled with an indigo-colored checkerboard pattern. The design is meant to symbolize a refined elegance and sophistication that exemplifies Japan. The emblem was uncovered on 25th April 2016.
Mascot
The mascot of the Tokyo Paralympics 2021 is Someity. It is a figure with pink chequered patterns inspired by the Games’ official logo, as well as cherry blossom flowers. It has a calm but powerful ability, it is nature-loving, and it speaks to the wind.
Animated Short Films
Japanese public broadcaster NHK produced a series of short films called Animation x Paralympic: Who Is Your Hero? To promote the Tokyo Paralympics 2021. Each short features a different Paralympic sport, and is designed and produced in collaboration with well-known creators of anime and manga, sometimes featuring crossovers with popular series or with real-life athletes.
Must Read: Meet the Historic Indian Men’s Hockey Team
This blog has covered everything that you need to know about the upcoming Tokyo Paralympics 2020. To stay updated about the latest news and blogs, do follow Leverage Edu!
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