Para-athletes eye another high at World Championships

After the remarkable show of Indian para-athletes at the Rio Paralympics last year, where the country posted its best-ever performance by winning two gold, silver and bronze, Mariyappan Thangavelu, Deepa Malik and Varun Singh Bhati will return to action at the World Championship in London from July 14-23.

“After returning from Rio, we spend quite some time attending felicitation functions, and family commitments preoccupied us as we couldn’t give time to our families for almost two years before Rio,” said Bhati, who won bronze in high jump in the T-42 category --- a disability classification with single ‘above the knee’ amputation.

“I started training for the World Championship two months back and have gained momentum and hope to repeat the Rio show in London,” he said.

Bhati, who leapt to 1.86m in Rio, cleared 1.78m during trials for the world meet. “I was better prepared for Rio as I was training for almost two years. As far as the World Championship is concerned, 1.80m or above can place you on the podium. I am touching 1.80m-plus in training and if all is well, I will bring another

Croatian seventh seed Marin Cilic reached a fourth successive Wimbledon quarter-final on Monday with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 win over Roberta Bautista Agut of Spain. medal,” said the 21-year-old.

Wheelchair-bound athlete Deepa Malik, who became the country’s first woman to win a medal at the Games, stayed away from training for a while after

Rio because of family commitments. “Last year, my father was diagnosed with cancer. So, I couldn’t devote much time to training,” said Deepa.