NEW DELHI: Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur on Wednesday stated that the new era of Paralympic sports has begun in the country after the Indian athletes won a historic 19 medals, including 5 gold and 8 silver, in Tokyo 2020.
“New Era of Paralympic Sports has begun! Modi govt will continue to support and enhance facilities for our athletes in a targeted manner to achieve ‘Podium Finish’ in 2024 & 2028 Performance of athletes has been extraordinary; it’s changed attitude towards sports in India!” Anurag Thakur tweeted.

The sports minister also facilitated the Tokyo Paralympics medallists on Wednesday. Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju and Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Nisith Pramanik also graced the event. Secretary of Department of Sports Ravi Mittal, Secretary of Department Youth Affairs Usha Sharma and other officers of the Ministry were also present on this occasion.
During his address, Anurag Thakur congratulated all the para athletes for their fantastic performance and said, “I recall in the 2016 Paralympics, the size of the Indian contingent was 19, while this year the country has won as many as 19 medals! You have shown us that the human spirit is the most powerful of all! Our medal tally has increased by about five times. For the first time, we have won medals in Table Tennis, won multiple medals in Archery, competed for the first time in canoeing and powerlifting. We equalled two world records and we broke even more. India’s para-athletes delivered a perfect podium finish!”
In Tokyo 2020, India won 19 medals, finishing 24th in the overall medal tally among 162 nations competing and ranking 20th on the basis of total medals won. India had won only 12 medals until 2016 since making its Paralympic Games debut in 1968.