The Indian para athletes could not win a medal on Thursday at the quadrennial event.
The Tokyo Paralympics are in its final stretch and the Indian para athletes are gearing up for a grand finish to the mega event. The 2020 edition have so far been India’s best-ever showing at the Paralympics, as the country have already clinched 10 medals in the quadrennial event so far. More para athletes are currently in contention to win medals for the country in the coming days, who can help India to finish on a high after the initial success at the Tokyo Paralympics.
The Indian shuttlers impressed in a thrilling day 9 on Thursday, with two of them securing passage to the semifinals and inching closer to the medals. The promising performances have kept Indians hopeful of more medals in the already rewarding Tokyo Paralympics. Let’s find out how Indian participants fared on Friday.
Shooting
Rahul Jakhar qualified to the finals of the 25m SH1 mixed event. The Indian shooter’s consistency was rewarded as he aced the precision round by scoring a total of 284 in three rounds. He finished the day in the second spot after a brilliant rapid fire round as well.
His compatriot Akash however wasn’t able to qualify as he finished in the 21st position, thereby missing out on the finals which only allowed the top eight contestants to participate.
The event had a bittersweet ending as Rahul Jakhar could only finish fifth in the standings and missed out on a medal at the Paralympics.
Canoe
Indian canoe ace Prachi Yadav made her country proud when she recorded a time of 1:11.098 seconds in class VL2 heat 1 at the Sea Forest Waterway. Prachi finished fourth in her heat and advanced to the semifinals where she will challenge Emma Wiggs (58.084s) in a bid to secure a podium finish.
Taekwondo
Aruna Tanwar represented India in Taekwondo in the Tokyo Paralympics. She competed in the women’s K44 category – 49 kg event. She lost her first match to Leonor Carranza by a score of 21-84. Later, she qualified for the repechage round.
Badminton
World no.1 Pramod Bhagat eased into the semifinals of the men’s singles in the SL3 class by beating Oleksandr Chyrkov in his second group A match. Bhagat outscored the Ukrainian in straight sets 21-12, 21-9 to finish off the match in 26 minutes and register a spot in the semifinals.
Suhas Yathiraj aced his first match beating Germany’s Jan Niklas Pottt 21-9, 21-3 in the men’s singles SL4 event. Suhas will face Hary Susanto of Indonesia on Friday.
Tarun Dhillon also won his first game against Siripong Teamarrom in the men’s singles SL4 event, beating the Thai shuttler in straight sets 21-7, 21-13. The second seeded Dhillon will face South Korean Shin Kyung-Hwan on Friday.
Second seeded Krishna Nagar also won his first match in the men’s singles SH6 event, beating Malaysia’s Didin Taresoh 22-20, 21-10. Taresoh lost his second match ensuring Krishna’s qualification to the semifinals.
Palak Kohli gave herself a chance at qualification to the quarterfinals of women’s singles SU5 by beating Turkey’s Zehra Baglar in straight sets. Palak gave nothing away beating Zehra 21-12, 21-18. The result of the match between Ayako Suzuki and Zehra Baglar will determine her qualification.
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Palak, along with Parul Parmar lost in straight sets in the women’s doubles SL3-SU5 event in straight sets to Chinese duo Cheng Hefang and Ma Huihui. The duo succumbed to a score of 21-7, 21-5 against the Chinese.
Parul also lost both her singles’ matches of the day to Cheng Hefang and Katrin Seibert in the women’s singles SL4 event. She put up a strong fight against Seibert by winning one set before succumbing 21-15 in the decider.
Athletics
Arvind Malik finished at the seventh spot in the final standings of the men’s shot put F35 event at the Tokyo Paralympics on Thursday. His best ever throw was 13.48m, which was 2.65m behind the gold medal winner Uzbekistan’s Khusniddin Norbekov. It was a tough day for the Indian who managed his best throw with only his last attempt.
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