Paris. World champion Sachin Sarjerao won the silver medal in the men’s shot put F46 event with an Asian record throw of 16.32m on Wednesday, continuing India’s medal haul in the track and field event, the country’s best ever performance at the Paralympics.
The 34-year-old player threw the best throw in the second attempt and bettered his own Asian record of 16.30 meters, which he used to win the gold medal at the World Para Athletics Championships in Japan in May. However, this personal best effort of Sachin player was not enough to give him the first place and Canada’s Greg Stewart retained the gold he won at the Tokyo Paralympics with an effort of 16.38 meters. Luka Bakovic of Croatia won the bronze medal with 16.27 meters.
The player’s silver is India’s 11th medal in athletics at the Paris Paralympics, taking the country’s total medal tally to 21, including three gold medals. The F46 category includes players who have weakness in their arms, impaired muscle strength or impaired passive range of motion in their arms. Such athletes compete standing.
On Tuesday, after World Championship gold medallist Deepti Jeevanji won the bronze medal in the athletics women’s 400m T20 event with a timing of 55.82 seconds, India won silver and bronze medals in men’s high jump T63 and javelin throw F46 respectively. Sharad Kumar and Mariyappan Thangavelu won silver and bronze respectively in men’s high jump T63 while Ajeet Singh and Sundar Singh Gurjar finished second and third in the javelin throw F46 final.
The F46 category is for athletes who have weakness and weak muscles in their arms, which forces them to compete standing up. Hailing from a farmer’s family in Kargani village in Sangli district of Maharashtra, the athlete met with an accident during his school days. The injury caused ‘gangrene’ in the skin of his elbow. Even after several surgeries, his arm never recovered. His mother also died when he was a child.
After winning the silver medal, the player said, “I wanted to win the gold medal but it did not happen. It was my best effort but I am not satisfied. I think I could have done better. Today was not my day.” Harvinder reached the quarterfinals in archery: Tokyo Paralympics bronze medalist Harvinder Singh entered the quarterfinals by registering consecutive wins in the men’s recurve open event in his campaign to win consecutive archery medals. India’s only Paralympic medalist archer Harvinder defeated Seng Lung Hui of Chinese Taipei 7-3 and then defeated Setiawan Setiawan of Indonesia 6-2 in the pre-quarterfinals.
Tokyo silver medalist Bhavina out : India’s challenge in the Paris Paralympics women’s singles table tennis ended when Tokyo Paralympics silver medalist Bhavinaben Patel lost 1-3 to China’s Ying Zhou in the Class 4 quarter-finals. Bhavinaben, who became the first Indian player to win a medal in this sport with a silver at the Tokyo Paralympics, lost 12.14, 9.11, 11.8, 6.11. Earlier in Class 3, India’s Sonalben Patel was defeated by Croatia’s Andela Mujinic Vinsetich.
In women’s doubles, India’s Bhavinaben and Sonalben lost to Korea’s Young A Jung and S Moon in the quarterfinals.
Bhavinaben has been suffering from polio since the age of one. She plays in the category of wheelchair-dependent players.
No medal in shooting : At Shetrau, Indian shooters Nihal Singh and Rudraksh Khandelwal failed to reach the final of the mixed 50m pistol (SH1) event. Last year’s World Championship bronze medalist Nihal finished 19th in the qualification round with a score of 522 points in six series.
17-year-old Rudraksh, participating in his first Paralympics, finished 22nd in the qualification round with a score of 517 points. Rudraksh lost his left leg in an accident at the age of eight. The SH1 category includes those athletes who have difficulty lifting their gun and shoot sitting (in a wheelchair or chair) or standing. According to the rules, athletes in the SH1 category can use pistols or rifles. Indian para shooters have so far won four medals at the Paris Paralympics, including one gold and one silver.
India’s schedule on day eight of Paris Paralympics
Following is India’s schedule for the eighth day of competitions at the Paris Paralympics on Thursday.
Shooting :
Mixed 50m Rifle Prone SH1 Qualification- Siddhartha Basu and Mona Agarwal — 1 PM
Archery:
Mixed Team Recurve Open (Pre-Quarterfinals) — Pooja and Harvinder Singh vs Amanda Jennings and Teman Kenton-Smith (Australia) — 1:50 PM
Powerlifting:
Men’s Upto 65kg Final – Ashok – 10:05 PM.
Paris Paralympics: Day 7 medal tally
Here is the list of top 10 countries and India in the medal tally on the seventh day of competition at the Paris Paralympics on Wednesday: Position Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 China 56 41 23 120
2 Great Britain 31 22 16 69
3 America 24 22 11 57
4 France 15 17 18 50
5 Brazil 15 12 24 51
6 Netherlands 15 7 5 27
7 Italy 11 9 19 39
8 Ukraine 10 18 21 49
9 Australia 10 12 17 39
10 Spain 7 8 14 29
20 India 3 8 10 21