New Delhi,sep 5
Para-athlete Deepthi Jeevanji on Thursday arrived at Indira Gandhi International Airport in the national capital after her bronze medal triumph at the ongoing Paris Paralympics.Along with Jeevanji, other para-athletes from the Indian contingent also arrived in the national capital on Thursday. Jeevanji won the bronze medal in the women’s 400m T20 final on her debut at the ongoing Paralympics.The 21-year-old was quick off the blocks but fell short towards the final phase of the race and finished behind Ukraine’s Yuliia Shuliar and Turkey’s Aysel Onder in Paris.
In a race that was decided by the narrowest of the margins, Deepthi clocked 55.82s to add a bronze to India’s constantly growing medal tally. Yuliia took away the gold with a timing of 55.16s and Aysel settled for silver with a timing of 55.23s.
She made her way into the final with a sensational run in the qualification round. Deepthi finished first in her women’s 400m-T20 round 1 in 55.45s. Ukraine’s Yuliia Shuliar clocked her season-best timing of 56.49s to secure the second spot and qualify for the final. Brazil’s Antonia Keyla Da Silva Barros also produced her season’s best performance. She finished third and qualified for the final with a timing of 57.54s.The series of double podium finishes continued for India after para-athletes Dharambir and Pranav Soorma bagged gold and silver medals, respectively, in the men’s club throw F51 final at the para multi-sport event.India enjoyed double podium finishes on Tuesday too after Ajeet Singh and Sundar Singh Gurjar claimed silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the men’s javelin throw F46 event and moments later, duo of Mariyappan Thangavelu and Sharad Kumar won the bronze and silver medals in the men’s high jump T6 final.
Before Dharambir’s heroics at Stade de France on Wednesday, para-archer Harvinder Singh added fourth gold to India’s medal tally. He outplayed Poland’s Lukasz Ciszek and scripted history by winning India’s first-ever gold medal in para archery at the Paralympics.
Among other gold medal winners, para-shooter shooter Avani Lekhra got her hands on the nation’s first gold at the Paris Paralympics with a sensational display in the women’s 10m air rifle final.While para-shuttler Nitesh Kumar ousted Great Britain’s second-seeded Daniel Bethell in the men’s singles SL3 category final to add a second gold to India’s record-breaking haul.
Javelin thrower Sumit Antil was the third gold medal winner for India at the Paris Paralympics following his record-breaking attempt of 70.59m in the javelin throw F64 class final.
