All guns blazing: 25-year-old Rubina Francis from Jabalpur wins India fourth medal in shooting

Chatearoux, August 31

Clubfooted shooter Rubina Francis extended India’s medal-winning run with a bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol SH1 event on a day when the country’s shuttlers Nitesh Kumar and Sukant Kadam progressed to the semifinals at the Paris Paralympics on Saturday.

Rubina’s bronze was India’s fourth medal from the shooting range and fifth overall. The 25-year-old from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh aggregated 211.1 to finish third in the eight-woman final behind Iran’s Sareh Javanmardi (236.8) and Turkey’s Aysel Ozgan (231.1).

The Indian had qualified for the final at seventh spot in the qualification round earlier in the day.

In SH1 class, athletes are able to hold their gun without difficulty and shoot from a standing or sitting position in a wheelchair or chair.

Clubfoot is a deformity in which an infant’s feet are turned inward, often so severely that the bottom of the foot faces sideways or even upward.

On Friday, Avani Lekhara had created history by successfully defending her women’s 10m air rifle title won in Tokyo while her compatriot Mona Agarwal clinched the bronze. Manish Narwal had then added a silver to India’s tally by finishing second in the men’s 10m air pistol (SH1).

Rubina’s talent was identified by Gun for Glory academy back in 2015 and since then she has not looked back. She had qualified for the Tokyo Paralympics also but finished in seventh position.

She has been trained by Subhash Rana, the younger brother of renowned coach Jaspal Rana, who has shaped the phenomenal career of Haryana shooter Manu Bhaker, who won two bronze medals in Paris Olympics.

Shuttlers inch closer to medal rounds

Nitesh Kumar and Sukant Kadam qualified for the semifinals of men’s singles SL3 and SL4 categories respectively after recording straight-game wins in their last group matches.

Nitesh, who had won a silver medal in the Asian Para Games last year in China, topped Group A after outplaying Mongkhon Bunsun of Thailand 21-13 21-14, notching up his third successive win.

Bunsun also qualified for the semifinals as the second-place finisher from group A.

In SL3 class, which is meant for players with severe lower limb disability competing on half-width court, the top two finishers from each of the two groups qualify for the semifinals.

In the group A, Tokyo Paralympics bronze medallist Manoj Sarkar, who has already bowed out of the tournament, beat Yang Jianyuan of China 21-1 21-11. Manoj had earlier lost to Bunsun and Nitesh.

In men’s singles SL4 class, meant for athletes with lower limb impairments and minor balance issues in walking or running, Sukant joined compatriot Suhas Yathiraj in the semifinals after beating Thailand’s Teamarrom Siripong 21-12 21-12 to top group B.

Cyclists, rowers disappoint

The Indian cyclists and rowers, however, endured disappointing exits from the Paralympics. Arshad Shaik and Jyoti Gaderiya failed to make an impact in their respective track cycling events as they crashed out in the qualification round.

In the men’s 1,000m time trial C1-3, Shaik could manage only a disappointing bottom-place (17th) finish with a timing of 1:21.416. On Friday, he had failed to progress in the men’s 3,000m pursuit C2 event, managing a bottom-place (ninth) finish in qualifying round.

Meanwhile, Indian rowers Anita and Narayana Konganapalle crashed out from the mixed PR3 double sculls event.

The pair finished the race with a timing of 7:54.33s, behind Ukraine (7:29.24s) and Great Britain (7:20.53s). — PTI

Sarita storms into quarters, Sheetal out

LONDON: India endured mixed luck from the archery arena as armless wonder Sheetal Devi suffered an exit, while Sarita Kumari put up dominating show to storm into the quarterfinals of the compound women’s open category at the Paralympics here on Saturday. First, it was the ninth seed Sarita who put up a dominated from the start to down Italy’s Eleonora Sarti 141-135 in a one-sided affair. Sheetal, who draws the arrow with her toes, endured a blip in the second end where she shot the 7-point red ring to go down to Tokyo silver medalist Mariana Zuniga of Chile 137-138 in the pre-quarters. Sarita will be up against Turkey’s Onzur Cure Girdi. PTI