Paralympics 2024 India Highlights, Day 9: Hokato wins shot put bronze; Praveen wins high jump gold

Hokato’s bronze takes India’s medal count to 27 — eight more than the previous highest haul of 19 in the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago. And we still have a couple of days left in the competition, with the likes of para-sprinter Simran Sharma expected to land a medal in the coming events.

IT’S A BRONZE FOR HOKATO! The shot-putter from Nagaland finishes third in the men’s shot put F57 category with a best throw of 14.65 metres.

Iran’s Yasin Khosravi and Brazil’s Thiago Paulino dos Santos win gold and silver respectively, the former breaking the Paralympic record along the way.

Soman Rana, the other Indian competing in the event, finishes fifth with a best throw of 14.07m though he also cops a yellow card during the event.

Congo’s Paulin Mayombo is the 10th competitor in the men’s shot put F57 final, and he currently is ninth with a best throw of 9.92 metres.

Two more athletes to go — Haiti’s Ywenson Registre and Yemen’s Naseb Fateh Mohammed Alraoad — and unless they are able to produce a throw that’s greater than 14.65 metres, India’s Hokato should be walking away with a bronze medal around his neck.

Eight competitors are done with all six of their throws in the men’s shot put F57 final, and India’s Hokato remains third as of now with Soman still at fifth.

Can the Indian contingent end the ninth day with a medal — which would be their 27th of the competition. Another four competitors to go, so it’s going to be a while before we find out.

Bhavanaben Chaudhary finishes fifth in the women’s javelin throw F46 category with a throw of 39.70m, breaching her personal best thrice along the way.

Venezuela’s Naibys Daniela Morillo Gil wins gold with a best throw of 43.77 metres, a new Paralympic record, while Uzbekistan’s Shahinakhon Yigitalieva wins silver with an Asian record of 43.12m.

Britain’s Hollie Arnold wins bronze with a 40.59-metre throw.

Hokato Hotozhe Sema, the other Indian competing in the men’s shot put F57 final, moves to the third spot with a throw of 14.65m in his third attempt.

Soman, meanwhile, drops to the fifth spot after briefly occupying third, with Finland’s Teijo Koopikka moving to fourth with a throw of 14.18m in his first attempt.

Here’s the start list for the women’s 200 metre T12 Final that will take place on the penultimate day of the competition tomorrow:

Bhavanaben Chaudhary finishes improves her personal best for a third time in the Paris 2024 final, her fourth attempt measuring 39.70 metres. However, that is not enough for her to breach the medal positions; even breaching the 40-metre mark isn’t a guarantee for the same.

At the very least, Bhavanaben improves her PB even if she doesn’t return home with a medal. She currently is occupying the fifth position but her final result will be known once all the throws are done, which should be in a few minutes.

Simran, who is competing with Abhay Singh as her guide, qualifies for the women’s 200 metre T12 final! She tops Semi-Final 3 with a timing of 25.03 seconds to get the ‘Q’ against her name along with Durand (24.41s) and Venezuela’s Alejandra Paola Perez Lopez (24.59s).

India’s Soman Rana moves to the third spot in the men’s shot put F57 final with a throw of 14.07 metres in his second attempt.

The event, however, has all the competitor delivering all of their throws in one go, so it would be too early to say if Rana remains a contender for the podium.

The women’s 200m T12 semi-finals are currently underway, with Cuba’s Elias Omara Durand — who had won the 100-metre title in the same disability category earlier in the competition — emerging the quickest in semi-final 1.

Simran’s in semi-final 3, so she will be on the track in a few minutes.

Bhavanaben improves her personal best for the second time in three attempts, her third throw measuring 39.64 metres.

That, however, is still not enough for her to move into the medal positions, with Uzbekistan’s Shahinakhon Yigitalieva currently third with a throw of 40.27m.

Here’s the start list of men’s shot put F57 final, featuring India’s Soman Rana and Hokato Hotozhe Sema.

Here’s a look at the start list for the women’s javelin throw F46 final, involving India’s Bhavanaben Ajabaji Chaudhary.

As we wait for the next event involving Indian athletes in Paris, we take a look at the updated medals tally. India are in 14th place with 26 medals so far.

Right. We have a few more events coming up today. Let’s take a look at what’s in store (All times IST) 

10:30 PM: Para-athletics — Bhavanaben Ajabaji Chaudhary — Women’s Javelin Throw F46 Final

10:34 PM: Para-athletics — Soman Rana, Hokato Hotozhe Sema — Men’s Shot Put F57 Final

11:12 PM: Para-athletics — Simran Sharma Women’s 200m T12 Semifinal

A look at the final standings in women’s 67 kg powerlifting final. No medal for India’s Kasthuri as she finishes in eighth place.

India’s Kasthuri finds herself in a tough position for medal contention at the moment. She is in eighth place out of nine athletes with a successful lift of 106 kg in her second attempt.

Successful lift for Kasthuri on her second attempt! The Indian has listed 110kg for her third attempt, which is a long way off from the podium given France’s Souhad Ghazouani is at the seventh spot with a successful lift of 125kg.

For now, the Indian will hope to end the event on a positive note and achieve a successful lift even if she doesn’t return home with a medal for now.

End of the first round of attempts, and India’s Kasthuri unfortunately finds herself at the very bottom after being the only competitor with a failed attempt.

Chinese world record holder Yujiao Tan is expectedly at the No 1 spot with a successful lift of 134kg and is followed by Nigeria’s Lucy Ejike (132kg) and Egypt’s Fatma Elyan (130kg).

France’s Ghazouani successfully lifts 125kg. That is followed by successful 126kg lifts from Uzbekistan’s Kudratoy Toshpulatova and Maria de Fatima Costa de Castro.

Kasthuri will be a long way off from the medal positions even if she successfully lifts 106kg in her second attempt after failing to do so in her first. She will then have to come up with something extraordinary in her final attempt to finish on the podium.

Kasthuri is unable to lift 106kg in her first attempt, and will hope to come back stronger in her remaining attempts.

Up next is France’s Souhad Ghazouani, and she has listed 125kg for her first attempt, which should take her to the top if she is able to lift successfully.

Right then, the powerlifting women’s up to 67kg final is underway and the first competitor in action is South Korea’s Hyeong Hui Kim, who successfully lifts 80kg in her first attempt.

Kasthuri is up next and she has listed 106kg for her first attempt.

Here’s the start list for the women’s up to 67kg final, in which India’s Kasthuri Rajamani is participating. The event will get underway in 20 minutes’ time.

Can Team USA win a third straight gold in men’s wheelchair basketball?

The Americans defeated Canada in the semi-finals on Thursday. Standing in their way of a third consecutive gold medal is Great Britain, the team that had thrashed Germany in the other semi-final.

An hour to go before the next event featuring an Indian athlete gets underway, with Kasthuri Rajamani set to compete in the women’s para-powerlifting up to 67 kg final.

India are yet to win a powerlifting medal in the ongoing Paralympics. Can Rajamani end that drought tonight?

The difference between China and Great Britain on the Paris 2024 Paralympics medal table is staggering, with China currently ahead of 80 medals, having won 35 more gold.

The difference between Britain and the third-placed USA, though, is just 11, with the British contingent having won 12 more golds and two more bronzes just three silvers fewer.

Here’s what the medal table currently looks like:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Praveen Kumar on winning the gold medal in men’s high jump at Paris Paralympics:

Preethi Pal and Harvinder Singh will be India’s flag-bearers for the Paralympic closing ceremony, which will be taking place at Stade de France — the venue that had also hosted the Olympic closing ceremony.

Preethi had won bronze medals in women’s 100m and 200m events in the T35 category — becoming the first Indian to win track medals at the Paralympics. Harvinder, on the other hand, became the first Indian para-archer to win Paralympic gold on Wednesday after defeating Poland’s Lukasz Ciszek in the men’s individual recurve final.

India at Paris Paralympics:

✅ Most medals at a single edition (going past 19 achieved in Tokyo)

✅ Most gold medals at a single edition (going past five achieved in Tokyo)

Praveen Kumar exclaims, “I got it” on camera with the national flag draped around him. What a show it has been from him. Barring the 2.10m mark in the end, he had scaled each height in the first attempt