INDIA ON A ROLL

Shooter Avani Lekhara scripted history once again and teen high-jumper Praveen Kumar knocked off an Asian record for his silver while Harvinder Singh became India’s first archer to finish on podium as the country’s Paralympians raised the bar with unparalleled performances at the Games here on Friday.

India picked up three medals on the day and the overall tally rose to 13, including two gold, six silver and five bronze. It started with Praveen’s silver medal in the morning. The 18-year-old Praveen came second in the men’s high jump T64 event, setting a new Asian record with a 2.07m jump to finish behind Great Britain’s Jonathan Broom-Edwards, who delivered a best effort of 2.10m.

Praveen, who registered his personal best performance, won his first major medal since taking up the sport in 2019.

T64 classification is for athletes with a leg amputation, who compete with prosthetics in a standing position. T44, the disability classification that Praveen belongs to but is eligible to compete in T64, is for athletes with a leg deficiency, leg length difference, impaired muscle power or impaired passive range of movement in the legs.

Then came shooter Avani, who wrote history for a second time. The 19-year-old bagged the 50m Rifle 3 Position SH1 bronze to add to a gold medal she had secured earlier at the Games. Avani qualified as the second-best for the final with a total of 1176.

In the medal round, the teenager finished ahead of Iryna Shchetnik of Ukraine with a score of 445.9. Avani had become the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic gold by clinching the top honours in the 10m Air Rifle standing SH1 event.

Prior to her, Joginder Singh Sodhi was the lone Indian to win multiple medals in the same edition of the Games when he fetched one silver and two bronze at the 1984 Paralympics.

In the evening, Harvinder etched his name in the history books with a gritty performance. Harvinder collected three shoot-off wins on the day, starting with triumphs in the opening rounds. The last of his three shoot-off victories came against Korean Kim Min Su in the bronze play-off. The 31-year-old registered a 6-5 (26-24, 27-29, 28-25, 25-25, 26-27) (10-8) win to finish third in his event.

In the semi-finals, Harvinder had lost to World No.10 Kevin Mather of the USA 4-6. Harvinder was stretched to the fullest in the first two rounds, but showed tremendous resilience to overcome his fancied opponents via shoot-offs.