India (Comonwealth) _ At the Hangzhou Asian Para Games here on Monday, India won all three medals in the men’s club throw F51 category, with Pranav Soorma taking gold, before star shooter Avani Lekhara won her competition with a games record.
Soorma, 29, broke the Asian Para Games record with a jump of 30.01m to win gold, with Dharambir (28.76m) and Amit Kumar (26.93m) finishing second and third, respectively. The event had only four athletes, with Saudi Arabia’s Radhi Ali Alharthi coming in last with a throw of 23.77m.
Avani created history later in the day when she won gold in the women’s R2 10m air rifle standing SH1 category with a games record score of 249.6. Mona Agarwal, the other Indian para shooter, finished sixth in the standings.Avani, who was born in Jaipur in November 2001, was involved in a car accident in 2012 that left her wheelchair-bound ever since. Her shooting career took off in 2015, inspired by Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra, and she has never looked back.
Avani shot to fame with her spectacular performance at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, where she became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal in the Summer Games. Avani also won a bronze medal in the 50m rifle 3 positions during the event.
Soorma was paralyzed after sustaining a spinal cord injury in an accident when he was 16 years old. But that didn’t stop him from participating in parasports, and he took silver in the 2019 Beijing World Para Athletics Grand Prix.
The F51 club throw event is designed for competitors who have significant movement limitations in their trunk, legs, and hands. All of the contestants compete while seated and produce power with their shoulders and arms. In the men’s high jump T63 event, three Indians finished 1-2-3, however only gold and silver were awarded under Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) standards.
The three Indians were the only contenders in the event, and Shailesh Kumar grabbed gold with an Asian Para Games record leap of 1.82m, while Mariyappan Thangavelu (1.80m) took silver. APC rules state that Govindbhai Ramsingbhai Padhiyar (1.78m) cannot win a bronze medal.
To award all three medals, at least four athletes must compete. “In the unlikely event that only three or fewer athletes compete, a medal will be awarded using the’minus-one rule.” According to the APC rule book, “if an event is won by only two athletes/teams, only a gold medal will be awarded.”
Kumar, 23, had won silver at the World Para Athletics Championships earlier this year, while Thangavelu finished fourth. Both have qualified for the Paralympics in Paris next year. Thangavelu won gold in the high jump T42 category at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and silver in the T63 category in the Tokyo Paralympics.
Athletes with a single leg above the knee amputation compete with a prosthetic in the T63 division. Nishad Kumar earned India’s third gold medal of the day in the men’s high jump T47 class, clearing 2.02m, while Ram Pal took bronze with an attempt of 1.94m. The T47 classification is intended for athletes who have an amputation or handicap below the elbow or wrist.
Ankur Dhama earned India’s fifth gold medal of the Games in the men’s 5000m-T11 event. Praveen Kumar won India’s next medal, breaking the Games Record in the Men’s High Jump-T64 Final. Monu Ghangas took bronze in the men’s shot put F11 event with a throw of 12.33m. Prachi Yadav won silver in the women’s canoe VL2 event with a time of 1:03.147.
Athletes in para sports are classified based on the degree of activity constraint caused by the impairment. Athletes’ eligibility to compete in a specific event is determined by classification. This is done to ensure that competition is fair.
