Paris, Sept 4: India achieved its best ever medal haul in the Paralympics as it went past last edition’s number of podium finishes on the back of a superlative performance by the country’s track and field athletes here on Tuesday.
A late evening rush of medals swelled India’s tally to 20 (3 gold, 7 silver, 10 bronze) to surpass its earlier best haul of 19 medals at the Tokyo Paralympic Games three years ago.
On a red-letter day for Indian para sports, the track and field athletes showcased their might for the second consecutive day at the iconic Stade de France, bagging five medals — two silver and three bronze — as the country ended day six of the quadrennial showpiece at 17th place.
India had won five gold, eight silver and six bronze medals at the Tokyo Paralympics.
India’s javelin throwers continued to set the bar high with Ajeet Singh and world record holder Sundar Singh Gurjar clinching the silver and bronze with throws of 65.62m and 64.96m respectively in the F46 category.
F46 category is for field athletes with moderately affected movement in one or both arms or the absence of limbs.
High jumpers Sharad Kumar and Tokyo Paralympics gold medallist Mariyappan Thangavelu gave it their all before settling for silver and bronze in the T63 finals, with jumps of 1.88m and 1.85m respectively.
T63 is for high jumpers with available movement moderately affected in one leg or the absence of limbs above the knee.
Earlier, world champion sprinter Deepthi Jeevanji ensured another bronze for India in the women’s 400m (T20) event with the 20-year-old clocking 55.82sec to secure a podium finish in her debut Games appearance. She finished behind Yuliia Shuliar (55.16sec) of Ukraine and world record holder Aysel Onder (55.23sec) of Turkey.
Daughter of farm labourers from Kalleda Village in Telangana’s Warangal district, Jeevanji was diagnosed with intellectual impairment after being spotted at a school level athletics meet by one of her teachers.
Growing up, she and her parents were subjected to taunts by natives of her village due to her disability.
However, the same village has been celebrating her ever since she won a gold at last year’s Asian Para Games before breaking the world record at the Para World Championships in May this year to fetch another gold.
The youngster was also assisted by national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand after she began training with her formative coach Nagpuri Ramesh.
The T20 category is meant for athletes who have intellectual impairment. (PTI)
