India hit the 20-medal mark for the first time at the Paris Paralympic Games including 3 gold, 7 silver, and 10 bronze as the country's track and field athletes performed excellently on Sep 3 evening.
Some extraordinary performances on the sixth day helped India go past its previous best-ever Paralympic medal haul of 19 as the country ended the day in 17th place.
The track and field athletes won five medals (two silver and three bronze) at the Stade de France. India had won five gold, eight silver, and six bronze medals at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Javelin throwers Ajeet Singh and world record holder Sundar Singh Gurjar won silver and bronze with throws of 65.62m and 64.96m respectively in the F46 category. This category is for field athletes with moderately affected movement in one or both arms or the absence of limbs.
Mariyappan Thangavelu, Rio Paralympics gold medallist became the first Indian to win three Games medals, winning bronze in the men's high jump T63 final. He had won silver at Tokyo 2020. Thangavelu jumped 1.85m to clinch the medal while compatriot Sharad Kumar won silver with a jump of 1.88m.
The T63 is for high jumpers with available movement moderately affected in one leg or the absence of limbs above the knee.
Deepthi Jeevanji, the world champion sprinter, won bronze on her Paralympic debut.
Jeevanji clocked 55.82 seconds in the women's 400m T20 event. She finished behind Yuliia Shuliar (55.16sec) of Ukraine and world record holder Aysel Onder (55.23sec) of Turkey.
Notably, Jeevanji, daughter of farm laborers from Kalleda village in Telangana's Warangal district was diagnosed with intellectual impairment after being spotted at a school-level athletics meet by one of her teachers.
The youngster was also assisted by national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand after she began training with her formative coach Nagpuri Ramesh, according to media reports. The T20 category is meant for athletes who have intellectual impairment.
Avani Lekhara becomes first Indian woman to win consecutive gold medals at the Paralympics
The ace Indian shooter Avani Lekhara missed out on a second medal at the Games as she finished fifth in the final of the women's 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 competition in Chateauroux.
But Lekhara (22) has a lot to celebrate as she has become the first Indian woman to win consecutive gold medals at the Paralympics following a top finish in the 10m air rifle competition last week.
Lekhara paralyzed waist-down at 11 years of age owing to a car accident, shot a total of 420.6 across the three stages of kneeling, prone, and standing in a world-class eight-woman field.
Germany's Natascha Hiltrop won the gold with a total of 456.5, Slovakian Veronika Vadovicova claimed silver with 456.1, and China's Zhang shot 446.0 to bag the bronze.
The SH1 class is designated for athletes with lower-limb impairment for competition in rifle shooting events. Here shooters are able to hold their gun without difficulty and shoot from a standing or sitting position (in a wheelchair or chair).
Resilient Jadhav finishes 5th in shot put
Bhagyashri Jadhav who slipped into depression after losing her legs due to an accident in 2006 finished fifth in the women's shot put (F34).
Jadhav, who hails from Nanded district in Maharashtra, is an inspiring story of resilience. She fought back to reclaim her life as a para-athlete with help from friends and family.
Making her second appearance at the Paralympics, Jadhav (39) produced a throw of 7.28m but it was not enough for a podium finish.
China's Lijuan Zou won the gold with a season's best of 9.14m while Poland's Lucyna Kornobys secured the silver with an effort of 8.33m.
Pooja Jaytan beat Turkey’s Yagmur Sengul in archery competition
Pooja Jatyan, world Para Championship silver medallist beat Yagmur Sengul of Turkey in straight sets to storm into the quarterfinals of recurve women's open archery competition.
However, the 27-year-old could not sustain the momentum and lost to Tokyo Paralympics bronze-medallist Wu Chunyan of China in the last-eight stage.
