New Delhi: Duo Gujarat from Bhavina Patel and Sonalben Patel will lead Indian charges at Table Tennis at Tokyo Paralympic Games starting August 25.
While Bhavina will participate in the category of wheelchair, Salalben will compete in the 3-wheelchair category in women’s singles.
They will also pair up for women’s double shows.
Bhavina and Salalben will take action on the opening day when they start their qualifying rounds, scheduled to be held on August 25, 26 and 27.
The semi-finals and final are scheduled for August 28 and 29.
Bhavina is currently World No.
8 even though Salalben is ranked 19th.
Duo, both medalists at the Asian Games, have been training under coach Lalan Doshi in the association of blind people in Ahmedabad.
At Taekwondo, India will only be represented by 21-year-old Aruna Tanwar.
Haryana-based athletes, who will participate in the women’s category below 49kg K44, will act on September 2 from the Round-of-16 round.
Aruna, currently ranked 30th in the K44 category, is a silver medalist at the Championship of the Taekwondo Asia in Vietnam in 2018 and a bronze medalist in the World of Taekwondo Championship in Turkey in 2019.
At the Powerlifting, India sent Jai and Sakina Khatun.
While Sakina, born in West Bengal, has been practicing at the center of Sai National Excellence in Bangalore, Jai Deep based in Haryana has been practicing at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Rohtak.
Sakina, who will participate in women’s category up to 50kg women, has become the only paralympition of Indian women who have won the Commonwealth game medal when he claimed bronze in 2014 in Glasgow.
He was also a winner per pink Asian Games 2018.
Sakina, who contracted Polio as a child, began training Powerlifting in 2010 with financial support from Dilip Majumdar and his current coach, Farman Basha.
Jai Deep, who participated in the men’s up to 65kg category, was a coach assistant at the Indian Sports Authority.
The duo will take action in Tokyo in the last round of each on August 27.
All of these athletes are part of the peak and have received financial assistance from the government.