After Sundar Singh Gurjar’s gold on the opening night of the World Para Athletics Championships, the Indian contingent ended Day 2 on a disappointing note, failing to secure any medals. Gurjar had earlier clinched the gold in the F46 men’s javelin throw event with a personal best effort of 60.36m.
Day 2 of the Championships witnessed three events that featured Indian athletes – the men’s Javelin Throw F55, women’s Shot Put F55, and men’s Discus Throw F37.
In today’s men's Javelin Throw F55 final, lone Indian representative Sunil Phogat finished in the bottom half of the table. The 37-year-old registered a throw of 23.75m and could only manage the eighth spot.
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The event was won by Serbian Milos Zaric as the 29-year-old Serb recorded a throw of 30.83m to clinch the gold. The silver and the bronze were won by Brazilian Ferreira Licurgo and Egyptian Yaser Ab Elsayed respectively.
India’s next event for the day was the women’s F55 Shot Put that featured two Indians in the final ten. The pole position was secured by Latvian Diana Dadzite with a throw of 8.01m while the Indian eves finished at the bottom two. Shatabdi Avasthi finished last while Karamjyoti Dalal eclipsed her compatriot with a throw of 5.43m to secure the 9th spot.
The Men's Discus Throw F37 Final was won by Khusnid Norbekov of Uzbekistan. The only Indian in the fray, 24-year-old Arvind, registered a throw of 44.92 m to finish 7th overall. Australian para-athlete Guy Henley narrowly missed out on the gold to finish in the runners-up spot. Iranian Majidijamalabadi secured the third spot.
After a disappointing second day, the Indian contingent will be looking to add to its medal tally of one gold on Day 3.
27-year-old Jaideep will be participating in the Men’s F42 Discuss throw event and Pardeep will be the only Indian to feature in tomorrow’s the Men's Discus Throw F44 final. With a personal best record of 1.93m, Indian jumper Ram Pal has strong chances of securing a medal in the Men's High Jump T47 category.
