Aichi-Nagoya: Indian athletes’ impressive performance continues at the Asian Para Games. On Tuesday, Indian shooter Srishti Arora won the bronze medal in the women’s 10m air pistol SH1 event. Former Paralympic shooter Manish Narwal won the silver medal in the men’s 10m air pistol SH1 event. Indian athletes also won medals in para table tennis, para powerlifting, and athletics.
Srishti Arora wins bronze, Manish Narwal wins silver
Srishti Arora secured third place in the women’s 10m air pistol SH1 event with a score of 214.7. She scored 96.3 points in the first two series. She then moved up to third place and maintained her position until the end of the competition.
Iran’s Sareh Javanmardi won the silver medal with 237.0 points, while Faezeh Ahmadi won the gold medal with 237.3 points.
Meanwhile, Manish Narwal won the silver medal in the men’s 10m air pistol SH1 event with 233.7 points. South Korea’s Jo Jeongdoo won the gold medal with 241.3 points, while China’s Yang Chao took the bronze.
Narwal, who won a bronze medal at the 2023 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, had finished fifth in the qualification round. However, he came into medal contention after scoring 49.8 points in the second series of the final. World record holder Jeongdoo performed brilliantly and maintained a significant lead over the other shooters.
India’s second shooter to reach the final, Rudraksh Khandelwal, finished seventh. Despite finishing second in the qualification round, he had a poor start in the final and became the second to be eliminated. However, he secured India a quota for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics.
Medals for India in Para Table Tennis and Powerlifting
In Para Table Tennis, Jehan Madan won the silver medal in the men’s singles Class 1 event. He finished fourth in a five-man field and only defeated compatriot Sandeep Dangi. Despite this, he secured a medal.
Ashok, meanwhile, won the silver medal in the men’s 65 kg para powerlifting event by lifting 192 kg. China’s Zhou Yi won the gold medal with a best effort of 216 kg.
Earlier, Indian para table tennis players Baby Sahana Ravi and Prachi Pandey won bronze medals in the women’s singles Class 9 and Class 6 events.
Baby Sahana Ravi lost 0-3 (8-11, 2-11, 4-11) to China’s Mao Jingdian in the Class 9 semi-finals. With this bronze medal, she became the first player to win a medal for India in the standing category of para table tennis at the Asian Para Games.
On the other hand, Prachi Pandey was defeated by Iraq’s Najla Al-Dayyeni in straight games, 11-9, 11-2, 11-8, in the Class 6 semi-finals. Following this defeat, Prachi had to settle for a bronze medal.
Bhavina and Sonalben also won bronze medals
Indian para table tennis player Bhavina Patel won a bronze medal in the women’s singles Class 4-5 event. She lost to China’s Zhang Bian in the semi-finals, 7-11, 5-11, 7-11. Bhavina, a silver medalist at the 2020 Paralympic Games, won a silver medal.
Sonalben Patel also won a bronze medal in the women’s singles Class 3 event. In the semi-finals, South Korea’s Eun Ji-yu defeated her in straight games, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6.
This marked the first day of Indian Para Table Tennis competitions.
In addition, Pradeep Kumar won silver and Ayush Verma won bronze in the men’s javelin throw F53/F54 event. Praveen Sharma added to India’s medal tally by winning bronze in the men’s shot put F11 event.
Deepti Jiwanji sets Games record with gold medal
Indian Para athlete Deepti Jiwanji’s impressive performance of the day came from India. She won gold in the women’s 400m T20 event, clocking 56.36 seconds. She also set a new Asian Para Games record.
At the end of day one of competition, India had 11 medals, including four gold, five silver, and two bronze. Subsequent medal wins by Srishti Arora and Manish Narwal took India’s total medal tally to 23. This includes five gold, eight silver and 10 bronze medals.