Sprinter Preethi wins 2nd medal

Paris, September 1

India’s Preeti Pal created history as she became the first-ever Indian woman track and field athlete to win two medals at the Paralympics while clinching the bronze in the 200m T35 category with a personal best time of 30.01 seconds.

The bronze won by the 23-year-old Preethi was also India’s second para-athletics medal in the Paris Games. The T35 classification is meant for athletes who have coordination impairments such as hypertonia, ataxia and athetosis.

On Friday, she had clinched bronze in the women’s T35 100m competition with a personal best time of 14.21 seconds.

Meanwhile, Ravi Rongali finished a creditable fifth in the men’s F40 shot put final while Rakshita Raju bowed out in the opening round heats of the women’s 1500m T11 race.

Archer Rakesh to fight for bronze medal

Rakesh Kumar failed to bring out his A-game against ‘nemesis’ Ai Xinliang of China to lose by two points in the compound men’s open archery semifinals. The world No. 1 Rakesh will now fight for a bronze medal. Like in the quarters, Rakesh endured a slow start and trailed by three points with six arrows to go. He fought hard and dropped just two points in the last two ends, but it was not enough as Xinliang sealed the issue 145-143 to secure his third successive win over the Indian. Rakesh’s campaign in the Tokyo Paralympics had ended after losing to the Chinese by an identical scoreline in the quarters.

Meanwhile, there was disappointment in store for India in the shooting range with Avani Lekhara failing to qualify for the final following an 11th-place finish in the mixed 10m air rifle prone (SH1) qualification. PTi