Asian Para Games: Medal rush continues as Narayan Thakur bags bronze in men's 200m-T35 final

HANGZHOU: India's Narayan Thakur won a bronze medal in the men's 200m-T35 final on Day 3 of the ongoing 4th Asian Para Games on Wednesday. Thakur clocked a timing of 29.83s to settle for a bronze medal, finishing well behind the top two athletes.

Iran's Alireza Zare broke the Asian Para Games record with a timing of 25.51s besting the previous record of Saudi Arabia's Ahmed Adawi (30.39s). Iraq's Idrees AL-Zaidi claimed the second spot with a personal best timing of 26.54s.

Meanwhile, Shreyansh Trivedi clinched the bronze medal in the T-37 200m event with a time of 25.26s. Indonesia's Saptoyogo bagged the gold medal with an Asian Para Games record timing of 23.34s. Saudi Arabia's Ali Yousef settled for a silver medal with his personal best timing of 24.75s.

Earlier in the day, Sumit Antil and Pushpendra Singh dominated the podium standings by clinching gold and bronze medals respectively in the men's Javelin Throw-F64 final.

Sumit broke the Asian Para Games record, World record and Asian record in the event with a throw of 73.29m. He reached the mark in his third attempt of the day and clinched a gold medal.

Sri Lanka's Arachchige Samitha bagged the silver medal with an attempt of 62.42m while Pushpendra Singh settled for silver with a throw of 62.06m. Paddler Bhavina Patel walked away with a bronze medal in the women's singles - Class 4 semifinals and added to India's constantly rising medal tally.

This time India has sent 303 athletes - 191 men and 112 women - to the fourth edition of the Asian Para Games which is the largest contingent to the continental event. At the 2018 Asian Para Games, India sent a total of 190 athletes and returned with 72 medals, including 15 gold, for their best performance at the quadrennial event.