India’s powerlifters Jaideep Kumar and Sakina Khatun along with coach J.P. Singh left for the Tokyo Paralympic Games yesterday.

Jaideep Kumar will take part in the Men’s 65kg category while Sakina Khatun will be competing in the women’s 50kg category. Both the powerlifters shall be competing for medals on Aug. 27 in their respective categories.

Hopeful for a medal, Jaideep said: “We have trained hard for the mega event. If everything goes well, we can create history and bring a medal home.”

Sakina Khatun was one of the 10 athletes who interacted with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Aug. 17. PM Modi had hailed her as a winner as she not only fought her disability but also extreme poverty.

J.P. Singh, who has been keeping a close eye on their performances, is more realistic about the chances. He said: “We are not going there with any pressure. If we do our best have little bit luck on event day, our powerlifters will create history.”

The contingent was given a warm send-off by officials of the Sports Ministry and the Sports Authority of India.

Earlier on Wednesday, the first batch of Indian athletes for the upcoming Tokyo Paralympics, including flag bearer Thangavelu Mariyappan left for the Games on Wednesday amid a warm send-off.

The eight-member group was accorded a send-off at the Indira Gandhi International Airport by officials of Sports Ministry, Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Paralympic Committee of India (PCI). Along with Mariyappan, Tek Chand and Vinod Kumar were the other two athletes that took the early morning flight to Tokyo. Another contingent of 14 members, including the PCI President, left for the Japanese capital on Wednesday evening.

The Paralympics Games will begin on Aug. 24. India will start their campaign from Aug. 25 with para table tennis where Bhavina Patel and Sonal Patel will be in action.