Nagoya, Oct 20 Indian para track and field athletes pocketed 14 medals including five gold, with Nishad Kumar becoming the third from the country to win two gold medals in a single edition of the Asian Para Games here on Tuesday.
India added five gold, four silver, and five bronze medals on the second day of competition at the Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium, taking the medal count from para athletics to 20, the second best so far after China’s 23 (13 gold, 5 silver, 5 bronze).
Nishad clinched the top spot in the men’s high jump T47 event to join para-runner Ankur Dhama and armless archer Sheetal Devi as only the third Indian to win two gold medals in a single edition of the Asian Para Games.
He had won a gold in the long jump T47 event on Monday.
On Tuesday, Nishad sailed over 2.04m to win the gold and set a new Games record.
Ankur (men’s 5000m T11 and 1500m T11) and Sheetal (women’s individual compound open and mixed team compound open) had won two gold medals each in the previous edition in Hangzhou, China.
The T47 classification is for athletes with upper limb impairments.
Nishad’s right arm was severed by a grass-cutting machine at his family farm in Himachal Pradesh’s Amb when he was merely six.
It was Deepthi Jeevanji, who began India’s gold rush on the day, as she reasserted her continental supremacy by snaring a second consecutive Asian Para Games gold medal in the women’s 400m T20 event after clocking a Games record time of 56.36sec.
The 23-year-old from Telangana, who also holds the Asian record, is a two-time Para World Championships medallist, having won the gold in 2024. She is also a Paralympic bronze winner in the same event.
The T20 classification covers athletes with intellectual impairments. Athletes in this category experience challenges with processing information, concentration, and executing race plans or tactical strategies.
Hailing from a remote village in Telangana’s Warangal, Deepthi’s parents are small farmers who also worked as labourers in their village. Her talent for running was first discovered by a physical education teacher in her school.
She eventually found support from badminton great Pullela Gopichand, at whose suggestion she was tested for intellectual disability.
After she burst into the limelight with her consistent international performances, Deepthi revealed the tremendous role her parents played in supporting her ambitions despite being taunted for backing her by their fellow villagers.
Seasoned sprinter Simran also created a new Games record to clinch her maiden gold medal, while compatriot Tejalben Damor fetched a bronze as India dominated the women’s 200m T12 competition.
Simran clocked 24.80sec, finishing ahead of Iran’s Hajar Safarzadeh, who clocked 25.02sec. Tejalben, making her debut at the continental showpiece, was third at 25.23sec.
T12 classification covers athletes with moderate visual impairment.
The 26-year-old Simran, who won a bronze in the 2024 Paris Paralympics, is on a comeback trail with her new guide Shivam after her previous guide Umar Saifi was banned for a doping violation.
“Even the Asian record (24.46sec) is in my name and the target was to touch that. But my body was not feeling good; in fact, it felt tight because the recovery has not been great. I was very tired after my heat race,” she said after winning the gold.
Simran had won a silver in the 2023 Hangzhou edition in this event. She will next be seen in the 100m competition in which she won a silver in the previous Para Games.
In the men’s discus throw combined F51/52/53 event, Pranav Soorma won gold with an Asian record, while Ram Ratan Singh took the silver in a 1-2 finish for the country.
The 32-year-old Soorma, who had won gold in the club throw F51 event in the previous Asian Para Games as well as in the 2024 Paralympics, sent his discus to a distance of 11.66m in his fourth attempt to take the top spot and set a new Asian record.
Singh, 31, produced a throw of 10.35m in his second attempt to win the silver. Both Soorma and Singh are F51 athletes.
Though Hemami recorded a longer distance, he was placed below Soorma and Singh on the basis of the Raza Point System used for deciding the placings of athletes of different classifications who competed in a combined event.
The system converts an athlete’s performance into a standardised point score after making classification adjustments. Athletes with a higher or more severe degree of impairment may rank higher in a combined event even with a shorter distance or lower time, as their scores are weighted relative to their classification.
The F51 classification is for athletes with a high degree of movement limitation in the trunk, legs, and hands, alongside a low-to-moderate degree of affected arm movement.
Athletes having near-similar classifications can be clubbed together if there are not enough competitors in a particular event.
Indians swept all three medals on offer in the men’s discus throw F44/64 event with Devender Kumar winning gold in a four-athlete field.
Devender took the gold with a throw of 49.71m, while Rakesh and Pardeep Kumar took the silver and bronze respectively.
The F44 and F64 represent classifications for athletes with lower limb impairments. The F44 athletes compete without a prosthesis while F64 athletes compete with a prosthesis.
Preeti Pal won a silver in the women’s 200m T35 event.
Praveen Sharma (men’s shot put F11), Ayush Verma (men’s javelin F53/54), and Hokato Hotozhe Sema (men’s shot put F56/57) won bronze medals in their respective events.
(PTI News)
