Manish Narwal rises from the ashes, shoots silver

NEW DELHI: Three years ago, at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, Manish Narwal went on a long and lonely walk on a rain-soaked evening at the athletes' village, wondering what went wrong in the final of his pet men's 10m air pistol (SH1) event where he was a clear favourite to finish on the podium after topping the qualification rounds earlier in the day.
Manish finished a disappointing seventh in the eight-man final after shooting some below-par scores and returned home a lost and shattered soul despite securing a gold medal in the P4 mixed 50m pistol SH1 category in Tokyo.
Such was the heartbreak that he couldn't secure a single medal in any of the international competitions he participated in the year 2022. And, if that was not enough, twin tragedies struck the Narwal household when Manish lost his elder brother Manjeet to a road accident and a few months later his grandfather died.
Unable to cope up with the traumatic period, Manish went into depression and almost decided to quit para shooting, which had brought him out of his world of oblivion and anonymity. However, it was his father Dilbagh Singh who didn't lose hope in his child and kept the Paralympics flame burning in Manish by pursuing him not to give up the sport.
On Friday, at the Chateauroux shooting range, Manish, in his own words, exorcised his inner demons and ghosts of Tokyo by blazing his pistol and pellets to medal glory at the Paris para Games to secure an impressive silver in his favourite men's 10m air pistol event.
The 22-year-old para shooter from Delhi NCR's Ballabgarh town near Faridabad clinched a silver after scoring a total of 234.9 points. At one stage, the gold was well within his grasp but some lowly series of 9s allowed South Korean marksman Jo Jeongdu to leapfrog the Indian to the top position. Jeongdu emerged champion with a score of 237.4.
However, credit must be given to Manish for making a remarkable comeback early on in his final after shooting a poor first series with scores of 8.1 and 8.7 which saw him languishing at the fifth position for long. In the qualifications, Manish had shot a total of 565 to enter the final. The other Indian in the event, debutant Rudransh Khandelwal, missed the final after finishing ninth in the qualifications with a total score of 561.
“It's been tough the last four years for me. The Tokyo heartbreak, then losing my brother and grandfather and going into depression…everything happened to me and I lost interest in shooting. Today I can say, I am a happy and relieved man. This gold will always hold a special place in my heart. For years, I struggled to cope with that 7th place finish in Tokyo. I can't tell you my feelings, I am in tears,” said Manish who can't lift his right hand since birth.
Preethi Pal wins India's first track medal at Paralympics
Preethi Pal created history for Indian para athletics on Friday after she clinched the country's first medal in a Paralympics track event at the Paris Games. Preethi won bronze in the women's T35 100m competition with a personal best time of 14.21s to etch her name in the record books.
Prior to her effort, all the athletics medals India had won since the 1984 edition of the Paralympics have come from field events. Chinese sprinters, Zhou Xia (13.58) and Guo Qianqian (13.74), won the gold and silver respectively. “This was my first Paralympics and I am yet to believe that I have won a medal. I am feeling proud that I have won India's first track medal at the Paralympics,” she said. Preethi will also compete in the T35 200m event.