Picture Credit: Twitter
After a memorable Day 11 in which the Indian contingent bagged as many as four medals to their tally in the ongoing Paralympic Games, the Para-athletes added two more medals on Day 12 which also happens to be the final day of the Paralympics this year. This means that India finishes its campaign with a record 19 medals- the most accumulated by them in a single edition of the quadrennial event.
Not only did the Indian contingent bettered its record of the most number of medals in one season of the Games but it also won the most number of gold which made the Tokyo Paralympic Games all the more significant in the country's sporting history.
India's record performance has also helped it surpass its best tally of medals in the multi-sport events. Its last best was a total of 13 medals which came at the Summer Youth Olympics in 2018. India also finished inside the top 25 in the medal table at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics as it went past its previous best tally of 4 medals not by one or two but by a huge margin of 15.
Here is a look at the highlights of India’s performance on the concluding day:
Badminton:
While Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj had already assured the country of a medal at the Paralympic Games, the colour of the medal was yet to be finalised. However, his defeat to top seed Lucas Mazur of France in the men's singles SL4 class final of Badminton at the Tokyo Paralympics on Sunday meant that India added a silver to their tally in the morning. The 38-year-old, who has an impairment in one of his ankles, went down fighting and 21-15, 17-21, 15-21.
Not much later, Krishna Nagar made sure that the national anthem echoes at Tokyo for one last time at the Paralympic Games as he helped India win the second gold medal in badminton at 2020 Paralympics. He registered a win over Hong Kong's Chu Man Kai 21-17, 16-21, 21-17 in a hard-fought match in the men's singles SH6 category. Earlier Pramod Bhagat had won the gold medal in badminton on Saturday.
Later on Sunday, the Pramod Bhagat-Palak Kohli mixed doubles duo lost their bronze medal match in Paralympics badminton. They lost to the Japanese duo of Daisuke Fujihara and Akiko Sugino in their bronze-medal play-off. Bhagat and Kohli lost 21-23, 19-21 to their Japanese opponents in the SL3-SU5 class final of badminton.