Powerlifters Jaideep Kumar and Sakina Khatun on Wednesday qualified for the upcoming Tokyo Paralympics after the sport's world governing body handed bipartite quotas to the country.
World Para Powerlifting conferred a bipartite quota each to Kumar (men’s 65 kg) and Khatun (women's 50kg), Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) said. Khatun had won a bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and a silver in the 2018 Asian Para Games.
The bipartite slots came as a relief to India after the country's para powerlifting team couldn’t participate at last month’s Fazza -Dubai 2021 World Cup owing to travel restrictions to the United Arab Emirates.
“It’s a dream come true to qualify for the Paralympics. I have been working hard for the last two years. Now that the qualification has come, I will give my best to win a medal at the Games,” said Khatun, who became India’s first female powerlifter to qualify for the Paralympics.
Rohtak based Jaideep said: “After we had missed the final qualification event at Dubai, there was a lot of uncertainty about my qualification.
"The bipartite slots have given us a lot of hope and motivation to work towards our goal. I will definitely fight for a medal at the Games.”
The Tokyo Paralympics will run from August 24 to September 5.
