If you’re having withdrawals from the Olympics, tune in!

By Ashima Sethi

Now that the 2020 Summer Olympics have wrapped up, we’re on track to have the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics grace our screens next. The competition will take place between 24th August and 5th September, so make sure to tune in to bear witness to some truly incredible feats of athleticism. Both Thailand and India will be competing, so we’ve put together a list of all the athletes you should keep tabs on!

Archery

It has been reported that Thailand has secured quotas in Men’s Archery, this will see compound archers Anon Aungaphinan and Singpirom Comsan competing, while recurve archer, Hanreuchai Netsiri takes the final spot. For Women’s Archery, recurve archer Pattawaeo Phattharaphon will be representing the Kingdom.

India’s athletes will be competing in the recurve individual opens, the compound individual opens, and the compound mixed team open. The team will consist of Harvinder Singh, Vivek Chikara, Rakesh Kumar, Shyam Sundar Swami, and Jyoti Baliyan.

Athletics

For Thailand, four male wheelchair racers and two female runners have qualified:

Chaiwat Rattana– Men’s 100 metres T34 and Men’s 100 metres T53
Pongsakorn Paeyo– Men’s 100 metres T53; Men’s 400 metres T53; and Men’s 800 metres T53
Prawat Wahoram– Men’s 1,500 metres T54 and Men’s 5,000 metres T54
Rawat Tana– Men’s 1,500 metres T54
Suneeporn Tanomwong– Women’s 400 metres T11
Orawan Kaising– Women’s 400 metres T20

India have an impressive number of athletes competing in different athletic events. They are as follows:

Men’s Events:

Amit Kumar Saroha– Club Throw F51
Dharambir Nain– Club Throw F51
Vinod Kumar– Discus Throw F52
Yogesh Kathuniya– Discus Throw F56
Nishad Kumar– High Jump T47
Ram Pal– High Jump T47
Mariyappan Thangavelu– High Jump T63
Sharad Kumar– High Jump T63
Varun Singh Bhati– High Jump T63
Praveen Kumar– High Jump T64
Navdeep Singh– Javelin Throw F41
Sudar Singh Gurjar– Javelin Throw F46
Ajeet Singh– Javelin Throw F46
Devendra Jhajharia– Javelin Throw F46
Tek Chand– Javelin Throw F54
Ranjeet Bhati– Javelin Throw F57
Sandeep Choudhary– Javelin Throw F64
Sumit Antil– Javelin Throw F64
Arvind Malik– Shot Put F35
Soman Rana– Shot Put F57

Women’s Events:

Simran Sharma– 100m T13
Kashish Lakra– Club Throw F51
Ekta Bhyan– Club Throw F51
Baghyashri Madavrai Jadhav– Shot Put F34

Badminton

Thailand have many entrants for Badminton this year. Depending on the classification, the players will either be participating in wheelchair badminton or in a class with standing players with limb impairments.

The team consists of Jakarin Homhual, Dumnern Junthong, Siripong Teamarrom, Sujirat Pookkham, Amnouy Wetwithan, Chanida Srinavakul, and Nipada Saensupa.

India will also be competing in the singles and doubles events. Their squad includes Pramod Bhagat, Manoj Sarkar, Tarun Dhillon, Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj, Krishna Nagar, Parul Parmar, and Palak Kohli.

Boccia

For those who aren’t familiar with this sport, it is a precision ball sport that is similar to bocce, bowls, and petanque.

Thailand will be competing in teams and pairs, while the individual quotas will see Witsanu Huadpradit, Worawut Saengampa, and Pornchok Larpyen, representing Thailand in individual games.

Canoeing

Prachi Yadav is India’s first Paracanoe athlete in history. She qualified after finishing 8th in the ICF Championship.

Football

Thailand has qualified to compete in 5-a-side football. Information about the squad has yet to be released but we do know that this is the first time an all-blind football team from the Kingdom has qualified.

Powerlifting

Two powerlifters have qualified to represent India at the games. Sakina Khatun (Women’s 50kg) is the first female powerlifter from the nation to participate, while Jaideep Deswal (Men’s 65kg) will be returning for his second Paralympics.

Shooting

Wiraphon Mansing will be competing in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1, while Wannipa Leungvilai will be competing in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 event.

The Indian squad will comprise of a mix of shooters, men and women, participating in the air rifle, air pistol, rifle three positions, and rifle and air rifle prone events. The athletes are as follows: Manish Narwal, Deepender Singh, Singhraj, Akash, Swaroop Mahavir Unhalkar, Deepak Saini, Rubina Francis, and Avani Lekhara.

Swimming

It has been reported that two Thai swimmers will be representing the Kingdom, although no official information about their events have been released as yet.

Representing India will be Niranjan Mukundan and Suyash Jadhav who will be competing in the 50m Butterfly S7. Jadhav will also be swimming in the 200 Individual Medley SM7.

Table Tennis

Thailand secured eight quotas including five in men’s events and three in women’s events following their success at the 2019 ITTF Asian Para Championships.

Athletes competing include Anurak Laowong, Yuttajak Glinbancheun, Wanchai Chaiwut, Rungroj Thainiyom, Chalermpong Punpoo, Chilchitparyak Bootwansirina, and Dararat Asayut.

For India, Bhavina Hasmukhbhai Patel and Sonalben Madhubhai qualified due to their overall rankings and will be playing in the Women’s Singles.

Taekwondo

Para-taekwondo is making its debut at this year’s Paralympic games. Khwansuda Phuangkitcha qualified to represent Thailand due to her World Ranking.

Aruna Tanwar will be representing India at the Women’s 49kg event.

Tennis

Three Thai players qualified for wheelchair tennis, two by world ranking and one by an additional quota. They are: Suthi Khlongrua, Banjob Suwan, and Sakhorn Khanthasit.