SHOOTER NARWAL, SHUTTLER BHAGAT SCOOP GOLD EACH
Shooters, shuttlers do India proud on four-medal day
Tokyo, Sept. 4: Shooter Manish Narwal smashed a Games record while shuttler Pramod Bhagat yet again asserted his supremacy with his goldwinning performance as India’s tally swelled to 17 after a four-medal show on the penultimate day at the Tokyo Paralympics, on Saturday. The 19-yearold Narwal shot a total of 218.2, a Paralympic record, for gold in P4 Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 event while Bhagat humbled UK’s Daniel Bethell in the men's singles SL3 class final.
Tokyo, Sept. 4: Shooter Manish Narwal smashed a Games record while shuttler Pramod Bhagat yet again asserted his supremacy with his goldwinning performance as India’s tally swelled to 17 after a four-medal show on a memorable penultimate day at the Tokyo Paralympics on Saturday.
The 19-year-old Narwal shot a total of 218.2, a Paralympic record, for gold in P4 Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 event while Bhagat humbled Great Britain’s Daniel Bethell in the men’s singles SL3 class final for a historic yellow metal.
India now have four gold, seven silver and six bronze medals to be placed 26th.
India had won just four medals in the last edition in Rio while the total count from the 1972 edition when the country competed for the first time till these Tokyo Games was 12.
More medals are in store for India on the final day on with shuttlers Suhas Yathiraj and Krishna Nagar sailing into the men’s singles finals of SL4 class and SH6 class respectively.
Tarun Dhillon too stayed in contention for a bronze after losing his semifinals while the duo of Bhagat and Palak Kohli will also feature in the third-place play-off in the mixed SL3SL5 class.
Narwal smashed the Paralympic record to clinch India’s third gold of the current edition of the Games while compatriot Singhraj Adana bagged the silver to make it a sensational one-two finish for the country. Narwal, who holds the world record in the category, claimed the yellow metal in P4 Mixed
50m Pistol SH1 event in his debut Games.
Narwal had a keen interest in sports from childhood and grew up wanting to become a football player.
Unfortunately, he could not fulfil his footballing dreams due to a congenital ailment in his right hand. His wrestler father Dilbagh tried doing anything to make sure that his son’s deformity did not hold him back.
In 2016, on the suggestion of a family friend, Dilbagh took Narwal to a nearby shooting range at Ballabhgarh run by coach Rakesh Thakur. That changed Narwal’s life and he instantly developed a keen interest in the sport.
The 39-year-old Adana, who competes with polioimpaired lower limbs, created a piece of history as he joins the elite list of Indians who have won multiple medals in the same edition of the Games. He had won the bronze in the P1 men’s
10m air pistol SH1 event on Tuesday.
With badminton making its debut at the Paralympics this year, world champion and pretournament favourite Bhagat claimed the historic gold in the men’s singles SL3 class by beating Great Britain’s Daniel Bethell 21-14, 21-17 while Manoj Sarkar bagged a bronze after defeating Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara
22-20, 21-13 in the third place play-off. —