Para World Athletics: Silver lining on final day boosts India's best haul
New Delhi, Oct. 7 -- Silver medals from Priti Pal, Simran Sharma and Navdeep Singh and a bronze from Sandeep saw India end the 12th edition of the World Para Athletics Championships with their best medal haul at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Sunday. The 74-member Indian contingent finished with 22 medals - 6 gold, 9 silver, 7 bronze - finishing 10th on the medals table.
At the previous edition in Kobe, Japan last year, India won 17 medals to stand sixth on the table. The Delhi haul means India achieved their target of 20 medals at home. Sprinters Simran and Priti were the only Indian athletes who won more than one medal. They won two medals each in 100m and 200m in their respective classifications.
Competing in the T12 class - it is meant for athletes with significant visual impairment - Simran followed her 100m gold with 200m silver on the final day clocking 24.46secs, an Asian record. Brazil's Clara Barros Da Silva won gold (PB 24.42secs) while China's Shen Yaqin took bronze (25.30s). Simran had initially finished third but her medal was upgraded after Venezuelan Alejandra Paola - the original gold medallist - was disqualified for violation of Rule 7.10.4. It involves "pushing, pulling, sling-shotting, and assistance" by the guide runner.
The drama continued in the women's 100m T35 final as well where Priti Pal won silver, only to be told that she had to re-run because the starter's gun went off twice.
The race was run again after about 90 minutes and the result remained unchanged. China's Guo Qianqian won with a season's best of 14.24secs. Priti also ran a SB of 14.33secs. Iraq's 18-year-old Fatimah Suwaed took bronze with a PB of 14.39secs.
A relieved Priti said: "My motivation was quite low after the stoppage but my coach and physio prepared me again. All the athletes were really tired. The issue happened because they had clicked the gun twice. They should have taken care of these things. We were all watching replays, the results were declared, photos were clicked and then we were told we had to run again."
"They should have fired a few more shots and we would have known something was wrong and stopped. In the 90-minute gap, I went back to the warm-up area, followed the entire drill again and returned stronger. Running twice in such a short span completely drains you. I was totally exhausted by the time I reached the finish line. The Iraqi was quite slow in the heats and I thought I will win with ease. But in the race, she was right on my heels," said Priti, who marked endurance as a weak aspect.
The men's 200m T44 final had Sandeep taking a bronze with a PB of 23.60secs.
Later in the evening, Paris Paralympics gold medallist Navdeep Singh won his first Worlds medal with silver in men's F41 javelin, throwing a PB of 45.46m. His classification includes athletes with short stature or dwarfism.
The gold went to Iraq's Sadegh Beit Sayah (PB 48.86m). China's Sun Pengxiang (43.60m) was third....
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