LEKHARA FAILS IN BID FOR SECOND MEDAL, SHUTTLER BHAGAT ADVANCES

Teenaged shooter Avani Lekhara, who became the first Indian woman Paralympics winner in Tokyo on Monday in 10m air rifle standing SH1 event, failed to qualify for the final in the mixed prone competition on Wednesday. Lekhara finished 27th with a score of 629.7 to go out in the third round of qualification.

In the men’s competition, Sidhartha Babu and Deepak Kumar managed only the 40th and 43rd places with scores of 625.5 and 624.9 to be eliminated.

Lekhara suffered spinal injuries in a car accident in 2012. The SH1 (rifle) event is for individuals with no impairment in the upper limbs but an impairment in either/both lower limbs.

India’s world No. 1 and world champion Pramod Bhagat started his badminton campaign with a 21-10, 21-23, 21-9 win over compatriot Manoj Sarkar in a 56-minute men’s singles Group A Class SL3 opening game.

Bhagat, 33, who is polio-affected, will face Ukraine’s Oleksandr Chyrkov in the next group game on Thursday. Sarkar will face the Ukrainian on Friday.

“Manoj pushed me to the limit. We know each other’s game very well. We had some good rallies. I am happy with the way I went ahead. These are initial matches and I am getting used to the arena,” Bhagat said.

Young Palak Kohli though endured a tough day as she lost both her women’s singles and mixed doubles matches. The 19-year-old lost to Japan’s Ayako Suzuki 4-21, 7-21. The 2009 world championships winner took just 19 minutes to win the Group A SU5 category match. Kohli, whose left arm is under-developed, will next face Turkey’s Zehra Baglar on Thursday.

Kohli and Bhagat lost to French second seeds Lucas Mazur and Faustine Noel 9-21, 21-15, 19-21 in mixed doubles group B SL3-SU-5 class opener at the Yogogi national stadium.

Kohli will partner Parul Parmar in the women’s doubles.