Nagoya: India’s track and field contingent went on a rampage, collecting 18 medals, including five gold, to propel India to fifth in the overall standings with sprinter Simran, high-jumper Praveen Kumar and shot-putter Sachin Khilari also creating new Games records in their events.
Apart from Simran (women’s 100m T12), Praveen (men’s high jump T44/64) and Sachin (men’s shot put F46), the other gold-winners for India were Dilip Gavit (men’s 100m T47) and Ayush Verma (men’s shot put F53).
Medals also came in from para-archery, para-swimming, and powerlifting as India steadily moved towards a strong overall performance in the eight-day extravaganza that will end of Saturday.
But none of the performances came even remotely close to the power-packed show that India’s athletics contingent pulled off, accounting for 13 of the 14 gold medals that the country has secured so far at the Games.
India have also claimed 21 silver (13 from athletics) and 27 bronze (16 from athletics) for an overall count of 62.
Simran was among the star performers as the visually impaired runner snared the 100m gold to add to her 200m top finish.
Both the podium finishes were achieved with Games records in the space of 24 hours and despite the fatigue that she is battling due to limited diet options for the strictly vegetarian 26-year-old.
Armless compound archer Sheetal Devi, who is on course for multiple medals as well, picked up a women’s doubles silver with Payal Nag after losing in the finals to China.
In swimming, the visually impaired Ravi Kartik Budigina won his second silver of the Games, claiming the men’s 100m backstroke medal in the S13 category.
Another swimmer to pick up a second Games medal was Himanshu Nandal, who took the bronze in men’s breaststroke SB13 classification. Nandal too is visually impaired but his case is that of near blindness.
While Ravi clocked 1:10.10 seconds to finish second in a four-swimmer field, Nandal returned a timing of 1:20.72 seconds.
India were assured of three medals in the men’s singles SL4 (moderate lower-limb impairments) badminton competition after defending champion Suhas LY, Naveen Sivakumar and Abhijeet Sakhuja advanced to the semifinals.
The men’s doubles pair of Krishna Nagar and Sivarajan Solaimalai picked up the SH6 (short stature) category silver after finishing second in the group stage featuring just four teams in one group. Given the lack of competition, medals were awarded based on group standings instead of knockout matches.
Polio-afflicted powerlifter Kasthuri Rajamani won a silver medal in the women’s 67kg category for the biggest triumph of her career.
The athletics march
India’s athletics contingent is hoping to win medals in 60 of the 62 events it is participating in. Given the performance so far, the target does seem within their grasp as two full days of competition are still left. The contingent has so far snared 41 medals.
Three of the contingent members have medalled twice so far. Preeti Pal, a double bronze-medallist at the 2024 Paralympics, is among the three names. On Wednesday, she won a silver in the women’s 100m T35 event, which is for those afflicted with cerebral palsy.
She had finished second in the 200m T35 event on Tuesday.
Simran won the 100m competition with a Games record time of 12.02 seconds, once again finishing ahead of Iran’s Hajar Safarzadeh, who clocked 12.30sec.
Ayush Verma gave India the first para-athletics gold of the day in the men’s shot put F53 event, followed by Praveen Kumar (men’s high jump T44/64) and Sachin Khilari (men’s shot put F46).
India also grabbed four silver medals in the morning session through Banti (men’s high jump T44/64), Bhagyashri Jadhav (women’s shot put F34), Mohd Yasser (men’s shot put F46) and Manjeet (men’s javelin F12/13).
Anubhav Choudhary (men’s 100m T35), Parveen (men’s shot put F46) and Rakeshbhai Bhatt (men’s 100m T37) won a bronze each.
Earlier, Dilip Gavit won the men’s 100m T46/47 combined event gold medal at the while compatriot Mohammed Morssinganakath Basil clinched the silver in the same event.
The 23-year-old Gavit, a T46 athlete, clocked 10.69 seconds to finish on top. Basil, a T47 athlete, clinched the silver with a Games record time of 10.72 seconds.
Athletes of two or more classifications can be clubbed together in a combined event to ensure that there are enough number of participants.
T46 and T47 categories are for athletes with upper limb impairment. The primary difference between T46 and T47 comes down to the severity and location of the upper limb impairment.