India’s Paralympic athletes Avani Lekhara, Suhas Yathiraj among others returned home to a warm reception on Monday. Family members and their supporters thronged the airport to welcome the athletes. The last batch of the athletes who returned home were the badminton contingent, shooters and recurve archery team.

Other than gold and bronze medallist 19-year-old Avani Lekhara, gold-winning shuttlers Pramod Bhagat and Krishna Nagar, silver-medallist Yathiraj, bronze-medallist Manoj Sarkar, and triumphant shooters Singhraj Adana and Manish Narwal were given a grand welcome.

The athletes were received by Haryana Sports Minister and former hockey player Sandeep Singh, officials of the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI).

In the morning, paddler Bhavina Patel also returned with other athletes and officials. She not only won a table tennis silver but also opened India’s account.

Amid thunderous applause, all the athletes were escorted out of the terminal by the airport’s civil defence volunteers.

The Indian contingent who participated in the Tokyo Paralympics are due to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.

India returned with 19 medals, including five gold, eight silver and six bronze to record the country’s best-ever Paralympics campaign. India finished 24th in the overall tally.

List of medal winners:

Bhavina Patel (Silver medal, table tennis class 4)

Nishad Kumar (Silver medal, men’s high jump T47)

Avani Lekhara (Gold medal, women’s 10m air rifle shooting standing SH1)

Devendra Jhajharia (Silver medal, men’s javelin throw F46)

Sundar Singh Gurjar (Bronze medal, men’s javelin throw F46)

Yogesh Kathuniya (Silver medal, men’s discus throw F56)

Sumit Antil (Gold medal, men’s javelin throw F64)

Singhraj Adhana (Bronze medal in men’s 10m air pistol shooting SH1)

Sharad Kumar (Bronze Medal, men’s high jump T42)

Mariyappan Thangavelu (Silver medal, men’s high jump T42)

Avani Lekhara (Bronze medal, women’s 50m rifle 3 positions shooting SH1)

Praveen Kumar (Silver medal, men’s high jump T64)

Harvinder Singh (Bronze Medal, men’s individual recurve)

Manish Narwal (Gold medal, men’s 50m pistol SH1)

Singhraj Adhana (Silver medal, men’s 50m pistol SH1)

Pramod Bhagat (Gold medal, men’s singles badminton SL3)

Manoj Sarkar (Bronze medal, men’s singles badminton SL3)

Suhas Yathiraj (Silver medal, men’s singles badminton SL4)

Krishna Nagar (Gold medal, men’s single badminton SH6)