The Indian para athletes continued their impressive run at the Paris Paralympics on Saturday, adding 2 more medals to the nation’s tally, including a gold from Navdeep Singh. As the penultimate day of the event concluded, India’s medal count stood at a promising 7 gold, 9 silver, and 13 bronze accolades at the end of Day 10.
Navdeep initially received a silver medal in the event with a personal best of 47.32m. Iran’s Sadegh Beit Sayah outshone the Indian thrower with a throw of 47.64m in his penultimate attempt, securing the gold. Sayah, however, was later disqualified from the event due to unsporting/improper conduct, resulting in Navdeep’s silver medal being upgraded to gold. China’s Sun Pengxiang had won the bronze initially with a best effort of 44.72m, and was subsequently upgraded to silver, while Iraq’s Wildan Nukhailawi was awarded bronze with a best effort of 40.46m.
Sayah’s disqualification also signifies that the Paralympic record now returns to Navdeep. Earlier, Navdeep had set a new record of 47.32m in his third attempt. However, the Iranian athlete surpassed it in their 5th throw with a remarkable distance of 47.64m.
Simran Sharma clinched a bronze medal in the Women’s 200m T12 event. Running alongside her guide, Abhay Singh, the 24-year-old finished in third place with a personal best time of 24.75 seconds, behind Cuba’s Omara Durand Elias (23.62 seconds) and Venezuela’s Alejandra Paola Pérez López (24.19 seconds). Simran had previously missed out on a bronze medal in the 100m final, where she finished in 4th place.
Dilip Gavit finished in 8th place in the Men’s T47 event with a time of 49.99s. He had qualified for the final by securing the third spot in his heat, clocking a time of 49.54s.
The two medals won on Saturday brought India’s total medal count at the Paris Paralympics to 29, a significant improvement compared to the 19 medals secured in Tokyo 3 years ago, which was previously the country’s best performance.