Two para athletes from Bihar part of Indian team in Tokyo Paralympics

Two para athletes from Bihar are part of India’s 54- member contingent at the Tokyo Paralympics 2020, which began Tuesday.

Sharad Kumar from Muzaffarpur will be participating in the T63 category high jump contest while Pramod Bhagat from Vaishali will be participating in the SL3 category of para badminton at the event.

Shivaji Kumar, former disabilities commissioner, who is leading the Indian team at Tokyo Paralympics, said this is for the first time two players from Bihar have qualified for this event. “In 2016 Paralympics also , there was a player from the state who represented the country at the international event held at Rio, “ he said.

“We have high hopes from them as both have been ranked number one at the world level. We expect medals,” he said.

Sandeep Kumar, director of the para sports association of Bihar, said, “Sharad Kumar and Pramod Bhagat have been staying in other states for the last several months for practice. Though we offered them training in initial years, the space and the infrastructure they needed for practice are not available here. So they had shifted to other states.”

Shivaji Kumar said para sports started in the state in 2000. “ It was held at the Moin-ul Haq stadium at Rajendra Nagar in state capital with 200 para sportspersons. I had to motivate persons with disabilities to participate in the event. Families of such persons too could not believe that physically challenged persons could do this. But the event turned out to be a grand success and since then, it is held every year in the city,” he said.

These days, the event is held at Patliputra Sports Complex and is attended by nearly 1,000 participants, he added.