India sent its largest-ever contingent to Tokyo Paralympics 2020. They are a total of 54 of them. Out of which 40 are men while 14 are women. India has sent 5 archers to Tokyo. Here’s brief information about them.
1. Harvinder Singh
Harvinder’s capacity to move his legs correctly was lost when he was a year and a half old due to the negative effects of a dengue treatment. He began archery while attending Punjabi University in Patiala, where he observed archers in training and was inspired by para archery at the London Olympics. Harvinder rose to prominence after earning India’s first-ever para archery gold at the 2018 Asian Para Games, his third international competition. In 2019, he was also a bronze medalist in the Asian Para Archery Championships in Bangkok. Harvinder set erected a target on his family farm in his hamlet to continue training during the covid shutdown in 2020.
2. Vivek Chikara
Vivek Chikara had no plans to pursue archery before 2017 when he was involved in a horrible car accident that required doctors to amputate his left leg. He began his recuperation by taking up the sport at the Gurukul Prabhat Academy in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, and eventually decided to pursue it full-time, losing his job in the process. The choice has proven to be fruitful. Chikara qualified for the Paralympics by placing ninth at the 2019 World Championships, and she will compete as the Asian para-archery champion, having won gold in the 2019 event.
3. Rakesh Kumar
Rakesh Kumar’s life was permanently changed in 2009 when the automobile he was riding in crashed into a gorge. He was paralysed from the waist due to the impact’s spinal injury, and he was bedridden for six months. Rakesh’s family, who lived in Katra, Jammu, struggled to keep up with his rising medical bills. Rakesh attempted suicide several times because he felt he had become a burden to his family. For a living, he managed a roadside business, and in 2017, he was approached on the street by an archery teacher who thought Rakesh’s strong arms would make him a good fit for para archery and offered him to try it out. Rakesh continued to attend practise sessions and decided to take up the sport more actively. He was a member of the Indian para archers’ squad that won gold in the team event at the second leg of the European circuit in 2018 and returned the following year with a bronze medal in the mixed team event at the World Ranking tournament. Rakesh is now ranked 11th in the world among compound para archers, and he won gold in the individual category of the World Ranking competition in Dubai in February of this year.
4. Shyam Sundar Swami
Swami was born with a leg defect in Bholasar hamlet in Rajasthan’s Bikaner district, the son of a vegetable dealer. Swami won silver at the Fazza Para Archery World Ranking Championships in February 2021, after competing in the 2018 Asian Para Games and the World Championships in 2017 and 2019.
5. Jyoti Baliyan
Baliyan is India’s sole female archer who has qualified for the Paralympics in Tokyo. Baliyan, who is from Uttar Pradesh, wanted to be a volleyball player when he was little. Baliyan, however, had to give up that aspiration after contracting polio at the age of ten.
Her father introduced her to archery, and she became hooked. Baliyan, who practises for eight hours a day, struggled with mental health concerns after the death of her father and has stated that she wants to win a gold at the Paralympics and dedicate it to him.