Indian para-shuttler Nithya Sre moved to the knockout stages of the women’s singles competition at the ongoing Paris Paralympics on Sunday.
Nithya, placed in the SH6 women’s competition category in Group A, lost to China’s Lin Shuangbao by 20-22, 18-21 within two games in a closely fought match. However, due to her securing wins in her previous group stage matches, Nithya ended the first stage with two wins and a loss, giving her a more than enough total of four points to reach the quarterfinals.
However, in the men’s singles competition, Sivarajan Solaimalai lost to Krysten Coombs of Great Britain. Placed in Group A of the SH6 category of players, Sivarajan lost by 12-21, 10-21, ending his poor run in the tournament in which he lost all three of his group-stage games.
Krishna Nagar, India’s gold medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, also suffered a loss to Thailand’s Nattapong Meechai by 20-22, 3-11 (retired) as he retired midway from the match. Two losses in two games means that he also is out of contention for a medal.
So far India has secured a total of five medals at the ongoing Paris Paralympics, with one gold, a silver, and three bronze medals.
Rubina finished third and bagged a bronze medal in the P2-Women’s 10M Air Pistol SH-1 final on Saturday. She gathered a total of 211.1 points in the final. Javanmardi Sareh of Iran finished with gold (236.8 points) and Turkey’s Ozgan Aysel went on to win the silver medal (231.1 points).
On Friday, reigning Paralympic champion, Avani Lekhara maintained her winning streak and struck gold in the women’s 10m air rifle final at the ongoing Paris Paralympics. Shooter Mona Agarwal bagged the bronze medal at the same event.
Lekhra dominated the final of the women’s 10m air rifle and secured the top place with 249.7 points, which is also her personal best.
South Korea’s Yunri Lee won the silver medal after finishing in second place with a points of 246.8, while, India’s Mona bagged the bronze medal with a total points of 228.7.
India’s silver medal came in shooting as well, with Manish Narwal getting it in the men’s P1 10 m air pistol SH1 competition.
Athlete Preethi Pal secured a bronze medal in the women’s T35 100 m race after clocking 14.21 seconds, which is also her personal best.
This year, India has sent its largest Paralympics contingent ever, comprising 84 athletes across 12 sports, a testament to the country’s expanding para-sports ecosystem. India’s participation in the Paris 2024 Paralympics marks not only a significant increase in numbers but also in medal hopes, as the nation aims to surpass its previous achievements in Tokyo.
Tokyo 2020 was India’s most successful Paralympic Games, with the country winning 19 medals, including five golds, eight silvers, and six bronzes.
(With ANI Inputs)
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