* Silver lining for shot-putter Sachin; India’s medal haul hits 22 at Paralympics
PARIS, Sept 4:
Tokyo Games bronze-winner Harvinder Singh became the first Indian archer to win a gold medal at the Paralympics, beating Poland’s Lukasz Ciszek in a lop-sided final here on Wednesday.
The 33-year-old Indian, who lost to Kevin Mather of the USA in the Tokyo Paralympics semifinals before securing a bronze three years ago, put up a dominant show to knock out Ciszek 6-0 (28-24, 28-27, 29-25).
Harvinder, who is pursuing Ph.D in Economics, won five back-to-back matches in a single day, showing neither fatigue nor nerves to etch his name in history and clinch India’s second medal in archery here.
Both his legs are impaired owing to the side effects of dengue treatment that he underwent as a toddler.
Meanwhile, World champion shot-putter Sachin Sarjerao Khilari smashed the Asian record en route a silver on Wednesday as India’s track-and-field athletes continued to surpass expectations in what is turning out to be the country’s best ever performance at the Paralympics here.
The 34-year-old Khilari pulled off 16.32m throw in his second attempt of the F46 category final to better his own Asian record of 16.30m which he set in May while winning gold in the World Para-Athletics Championships in Japan.
His silver on Wednesday was medal number 22 for the nation, which is currently placed 19th in the overall standings with four gold, eight silver and 10 bronze medals.
Greg Stewart of Canada defended his Tokyo Paralympics gold with a throw of 16.38m, while Luka Bakovic of Croatia took the bronze with 16.27m.
Khilari’s silver was also India’s 11th medal from track-and-field, the Tokyo haul of one gold, five silver and two bronze medals long surpassed.
Late on Tuesday night, Indians won silver and bronze in both men’s high jump T63 and javelin throw F46 after Deepthi Jeevanji’s bronze in the women’s 400m T20 category in India’s best day at the Games.
Sharad Kumar and Mariyappan Thangavelu won silver and bronze respectively in the men’s high jump T63 while Ajeet Singh and Sundar Singh Gurjar took the second and third sports in the javelin throw F46 final.
F46 classification is for athletes with arm deficiency, impaired muscle power or impaired passive range of movement in arms, with athletes competing in a standing position.
Tokyo silver-medallist Bhavina ousted
India’s challenge in the women’s singles table tennis competition after Tokyo edition’s silver-medallist Bhavinaben Patel lost to China’s Ying Zhou 3-1 in the class 4 quarterfinal.
Bhavinaben, who became India’s first-ever medal winner in the sport with her silver in the Tokyo Paralympics, fought hard in the first two games and even won the third but eventually lost to her Chinese rival 12-14, 9-11, 11-8, 6-11.
Earlier, the other women’s singles player in class 3, Sonalben Patel lost to Croatia’s Andela Muzinic Vincetic in the round of 16.
Bhavinaben was diagnosed with polio when she was one-year old.
She competes in class 4 which is meant for wheel-chair bound athletes with functional arms and hands. (PTI)
Paris Paralympics: India Schedule for Day 8
Shooting:
Mixed 50m Rifle Prone SH1 Qualification- Sidhartha Basu and Mona Agarwal — 1pm
Archery:
Mixed Team Recurve Open (Pre Quarterfinals) — Pooja and Harvinder Singh vs Amanda Jennings and Taymon Kenton-Smith (Australia) — 1:50pm
Powerlifting:
Men’s up to 65kg final – Ashok — 10:05 pm.
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