New Delhi, India

Tokyo Paralympic Games 2020 concluded with a colourful closing ceremony and the Indian contingent finished their campaign at an all-time high by securing a total of 19 medals — 5 gold, 8 silver and 6 bronze medals. 

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With five medals, the shooting contingent emerged as the biggest contributor, followed by high jump and badminton with four each. Badminton and Taekwondo made their debut in Tokyo, both of which were represented by India. 

Fighting all the odds, the medal winners and the participants emerged as champions and giving any adjective to them would be an understatement. 

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Here are historic firsts and top 10 shining moments of India: 

1) India sent its biggest ever contingent of 54 para-athletes across as many as 9 sporting disciplines at the Games. 

2) India finished 24th in the overall medal tally out of a total of 162 nations. 

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3) Bhavina Patel (silver) became the first Indian table tennis player to win a Paralympic medal. 

4) Harvinder Singh (bronze) won India's first-ever archery medal at the Paralympics.  

5) Shooter Avani Lekhara (gold) became the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic gold medal. She shot a new Paralympic record of 249.6 in the women's 10m air rifle shooting standing SH1 class final. 

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6) After winning the gold, Avani became the first Indian woman to win two Paralympics medals as she won bronze also. She finished third in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 category. 

7) Devendra Jhajharia won a silver medal in the men's javelin throw F46 class and became India's most decorated. He has previously won two Paralympic gold medals at Athens 2004 and Rio 2016 Games. (He levelled with Joginder Singh Bedi, who also has three medals - two bronze and one silver).

8) Javelin thrower Sumit Antil (gold) shining the brightest and en route winning the medal, he shattered his own world record multiple times. 

9) At the age of 18, Praveen Kumar (silver) became India's youngest medallist in the high jump which came with an Asian record for the debutant. 

10) As badminton made its Paralympics debut at Tokyo Games, Pramod Bhagat scripted history as he became the first-ever champion in the men's singles SL3 category.