Tokyo Paralympics: Javelin thrower Tek Chand leads Indian contingent

The 16th Paralympic games begins in Tokyo paying homage to the resilience of para atheletes and giving the message of moving forward amid the unrelenting demonstration being caused by COVID-19. Javelin thrower Tek Chand led the Indian contingent at the opening ceremony and was accompanied mostly by officials due to the strict COVID-19 protocols. Designated flagbearer Thangavelu Mariyappan was quarantined following close contact with a COVID-19 positive person on their flight to Tokyo. The New Zealand team is not attending the function due to coronavirus concerns while Spain are there with the full contingent.

The Tokyo Paralympics opening ceremony on Tuesday,had only 75 people performing and the stadium was largely empty barring a few hundred officials.The world’s biggest parasports event once again returns to Japan 57 years after hosting the 1964 edition and just like the recently concluded Olympics, the mega event will be held behind closed doors. The quad-annual Para games will see the participation of close to 4,403 athletes who will compete in 22 sports, 539 medal events across 21 venues. India is among the participating nations and the Indian Para athletes will look to make the country proud yet again. The Indian contingent is nearly thrice as large as that of Rio 2016, as 54 athletes will compete for glory in numerous sports disciplines at the mega sporting event.