India at Tokyo Paralympics: Mariyappan clinches silver, Sharad & Singhraj win bronze
Tokyo : Three Indian para-athletes – high jumpers Mariyappan Thangavelu (silver) and Sharad Kumar (bronze) and shooter Singhraj Adhana (bronze) performed well and clinched medals for the country at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics, here on Tuesday.
Three medals on Tuesday took India’s medal tally at the Tokyo Paralympics to an unprecedented 10 (two gold, five silver and three bronze).
In the last competition of the day for India, Mariyappan Thangavelu and Sharad Kumar bagged the silver and bronze medal respectively in the final of the men’s high jump T42 event at Tokyo.
Thangavelu won the silver medal in the men’s high jump T42/T63 class after successfully clearing 1.86m . It was Mariyappan’s second Paralympic medal – he had won gold at the Rio 2016 Games.
Meanwhile, Sharad grabbed bronze in the T42 class with his season-best effort of 1.83m.
USA’s Sam Grewe (T63 class) won the gold medal after clearing 1.88m.
The third Indian in the final, Varun Singh Bhati – the Rio 2016 Games bronze-medallist – finished seventh after only clearing 1.77m.
The T42 is a part of the sports class which is designed for athletes with limb deficiencies, like amputations or missing or shortened limbs from birth.
In sports classes 42-44, the legs are affected by the impairment and athletes with a leg deficiency who compete with a prosthesis are classified between T61-64.
Earlier, shooter Singhraj Adana clinched a bronze in the men’s 10mair pistol SH1 event after he shot a score of 216.8 in the final.
It was India’s second shooting Paralympic medal, coming one day after Avani Lekhara’s historic gold in rifle shooting.
China dominated the finals with defending champion Chao Yang (237.9 – Paralympic record) and Huang Xing (237.5) winning the gold and silver medals respectively.
Meanwhile, Manish Narwal – who had topped the qualification round with 575 points, could not capitalise on it and finished at the seventh place in the final.
Another Indian shooter Deepender Singh was unable to qualify for the the final.
In the SH1 pistol shooting class, the athletes can support the full weight of the pistol themselves. The shooters have an impairment affecting one arm and/or the legs – like amputation or spinal cord injuries. Some shooters compete in a seated position while others compete standing.
