Mariyappan, Sharad win silver, bronze in high jump
TOKYO: Defending champion Mariyappan Thangavelu and Sharad Kumar won a silver and bronze respectively in the men’s high jump T42 event as India’s medal tally at the Paralympics touched an unprecedented 10 on Tuesday.
Mariyappan cleared 1.86m while the American gold winner Sam Grewe succeeded in soaring above 1.88m in his third attempt.
Kumar took the bronze with an effort of 1.83.
The third Indian in the fray and 2016 Rio Paralympics bronze winner, Varun Singh Bhati ended seventh out of nine competitors as he failed to clear 1.77m. The T42 classification is for athletes with a leg deficiency, leg length difference, impaired muscle power or impaired passive range of movement in the legs. The athletes compete in a standing position.
Earlier in the day, shooter Singhraj Adhana fetched a bronze in the men’s 10mair pistol SH1 event. COVID-19 came in the way of him going to the range before the Tokyo Paralympics. So, Indian shooter Singhraj Adana simply built the range at home after drawing its layout in just one night.
At the Asaka Shooting Range here on Tuesday, the monumental effort paid off as the 39-yearold, only four years after taking to the sport, won the Paralympics bronze medal in the P1 men’s 10m air pistol SH1 event.
However, for someone who could only watch helplessly as his wife once sold her jewellery to support his shooting dream, he knew the move was a huge gamble and so did his mother. But during the lockdown, the polio-afflicted shooter’s desperation to resume training had reached a point where he was not able to even get a good night’s sleep. “As I was not able to train, I started thinking that my dream of winning a medal is over. That’s when my coaches suggested why not try building a range at home,” Adana said in a media interaction organised by broadcaster Eurosport and the Paralympic Committee of India. “I was getting desperate and was not able to sleep at all because of the absence of training. So I approached my family with the idea and they were taken aback at first as it involved lakhs of rupees. “My mother only asked me to ensure that we are able to feed ourselves later on if something went wrong. But thanks to my family and coaches’ support, the green signal and help from the Paralympic Committee of India and NRAI, we succeeded in my mission and the range was soon up and running,” he added.
He designed it himself. “I drew the layout overnight and my coaches told me that if at all we are building a range then it has to be of international level as it would then help me for not just Tokyo but also Paris Games.” “That’s why I am here today.” Adana, who has served as the chairman of the Sainik Public School in Faridabad, shot a total of 216.8 to finish the event in the third place after qualifying for the eight-man final as the sixth best shooter.
Hovering around the top three, Adana dropped out of contention with his poor 19th shot but managed to get back in the reckoning with his 20th attempt as China’s Xiaolong Lou got 8.6.
Adana’s first brush with the sport happened when he accompanied his nephew to a shooting range. “My nephew Gaurav Adana is a shooter. I was smiling as they trained and the coach asked me about the reason. That day I tried my hand at shooting and was on target four out of five times including hitting the inner 10,” he recalled proudly.
Adana was coming into the Games after winning a gold at the 2021 Para Sport World Cup held in Al Ain, UAE, where he upstaged 2016 Rio Paralympics bronze-medallist Server Ibragimov by 2.8 points to claim the top spot.