New Delhi: India’s differently-abled athletes failed to secure a medal on a humid Sunday evening at the World Para Athletics Championships, as none of the country’s six finalists across various competition classes managed to claim a podium finish. The underwhelming performance followed the opening day’s record high of three medals, which included a gold.
Long jumper Vikas alone provided some hope, striving to ensure that the Indian tricolour would be raised. However, his best effort of 6.96m could only earn him a sixth-place finish in the men’s T47 final (athletes with impairments affecting one arm, typically due to a limb deficiency, impaired muscle power, or impaired passive range of movement).
Ajay Singh, the other Indian competitor, could not improve on his season-best jump of 6.31m and finished tenth. Only the top eight athletes remained in the competition.
The 23-year-old Vikas aimed to breach the 7.00m mark in his debut Para Athletics Worlds after a series of final three jumps of 6.84m, 6.88m, and 6.96m. The gold was won by Cuban Robiel Yankiel Sol Cervantes, who achieved a remarkable jump of 7.57m. Russia’s Nikita Kotukov, competing under a neutral flag, claimed silver with a 7.21m effort, while China’s Wang Hao secured bronze with a 7.19m leap.
In the men’s F57 javelin event (athletes with limb deficiency, impaired muscle power, or impaired passive range of movement affecting their upper limbs), India’s Parveen Kumar finished eighth with a season-best throw of 41.92m, and Hem Chandra ended tenth with a personal best of 41.17m. Two-time Paralympics champion Mohammad Khalvandi of Türkiye won the competition with a personal best of 53.30m. Uzbekistan’s Yorkinbek Odilov secured silver with a personal-best throw of 52.06m, while Iran’s Amanolah Papi, the 2017 world champion, took bronze with 51.55m.
In the men’s 100m T37 (athletes with cerebral palsy experiencing movement and coordination problems on one side of their body but with good ability on their dominant side), Indian sprinters Rakeshbhai Bhatt and Shreyansh Trivedi finished seventh and eighth, clocking 11.88s and 12.18s respectively. Brazilian Ricardo Gomes de Mendonca set a new Championship record, winning gold with a timing of 11.16s.
Earlier, Norway’s Salum Ageze Kashafali continued the run of world records at the championships by clocking 10.42s in the men’s 100m T12 final (athletes with a significant visual impairment but some residual sight), improving on his own mark of 10.43s set in 2021.
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