After drawing a blank on the opening day, Team India opened its account on Day 2 of the Paralympic Games in Paris with four medals, which took them into the top 20 on the medal table as a result.
Three of those medals came from shooting alone while the other was won in a track and field discipline where India have not had much success either in the Paralympics or in the Olympics.
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With four medals to its name, including one gold, India found itself at the 17th spot on the 2024 Paralympics medal table.
The nation has so far won a fifth of the 19 medals that it had collected in Tokyo 2020 Games — it’s biggest ever haul in Paralympic history — and certainly are on track as far as breaking its own record is concerned.
Before we turn our attention to the events of the third day, we take a look at some of the top moments from Day 2:
Lekhara and Agarwal share the podium
Avani Lekhara and Mona Agarwal opened India’s account by winning gold and bronze respectively in the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 event.
Lekhara won gold with a final score of 249.7 while Agarwal won bronze after finishing third with a final score of 228.7.
Lekhara thus became the first Indian to win back-to-back gold medals in the Paralympics, having won the same event in Tokyo three years ago.
And Agarwal’s feat resulted in India securing a double podium finish at the Paralympics for the first time ever.
Preethi wins historic track bronze
Sprinter
Preethi would add to India’s medal collection shortly after by winning bronze in the women’s 100m T35 sprint with a timing of 14.21 seconds.
India have won several Paralympic medals in athletics since the 1984 Games, including gold medals in javelin throw as well as high jump.
BRONZE 🥉 For INDIA 🇮🇳
🏃♀️ Preethi Pal wins bronze medal in the Women’s 100m T35 Final#Paris2024 | #Cheer4Bharat | #Paralympics2024 | #ParaAthletics pic.twitter.com/Bv5MooLphU
— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) August 30, 2024
All of those medals, however, had come in field events and Preethi on Friday became the first to win a medal in a track event — in this case one of the showpiece events at the Paralympics as well as in the Olympics.
Preethi’s bronze was also the second Paralympic medal won by an Indian woman in athletics after Deepa Malik’s silver in shot put in Rio 2016.
Narwal wins another Paralympic medal
Manish Narwal would win India its fourth and final medal of Day 2 with a silver in the men’s 10m air pistol SH1 event later on Friday.
Narwal stood a chance of winning a second consecutive gold medal in the Paralympic Games, albeit in different events, after briefly occupying the top spot in the final.
Veteran Korean marksman Jeongdu Jo, however, proved too tough an opponent for the 22-year-old Indian shooter and ended up surging ahead and winning gold.
Narwal had previously won gold in the mixed P4 50 metre pistol SH1 category, and thus joined an elite list of Indian athletes with medals in consecutive editions of the Paralympic Games.
Archers Sarita, Rakesh advance
It was a largely positive day for Indian archery on Day 2 of the Paralympic Games with two out of three archers advancing to the Round of 16.
Sarita defeated Malaysia’s Nur Jannaton Abdul Jalil 138-124 while Rakesh Kumar defeated Senegal’s Aliou Drame 136-131.
However, it was curtains for Shyam Sundar Swami, who suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Thailand’s Comsan Singpirom in a shoot-off after the two finished level on 138 points.
Nithya Sre, Yathiraj among Indian shuttlers winning
It was a mixed day as far as the Indian badminton contingent was concerned, with key medal hopes such as Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Krishna Nagar and Manasi Joshi suffering defeats in their respective group fixtures.
Making up for the disappointment were the likes of Suhas Yathiraj, Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan and Thulasimathi Murugesan, who won their respective singles encounters.
Nithya defeated Chinese Taipei’s Cai Yi-Lin 21-12, 21-19 while Murugesan pulled off a relatively easier 21-12, 21-8 victory over Portugal’s Beatriz Monteiro.
#ParaBadminton Update: Women’s Singles SH6 Group Stage A
After registering a convincing victory in her first group match, Nithya Sre beats Chinese Taipei’s Yi-Lin Cai 21-12, 21-19 in her 2nd game.
She will next face China’s🇨🇳 Lin Shuangbao on Aug. 31.
Keep chanting… pic.twitter.com/iVEIfrCzSq
— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) August 30, 2024
Nithya would later team up with Sivarajan Solaimalai to defeat the Thai pair of Natthapong Meechai/Chai Saeyang 21-7, 21-17 in the mixed doubles SH6 class.
Yathiraj, who had won silver in Tokyo 2020 and also happens to be an IAS officer, defeated Korea’s Shin Kyung Hwan 26-24, 21-14.