Dharambir, Atul bring cheer amid rain disruption

On a rain-curtailed day, when a few of the events had to be rescheduled for Monday, Paris Paralympics gold medallist Dharambir Nain and Atul Kaushik brought joy to the Indian contingent by winning silver and bronze in their respective categories.

Dharambir (29.71m) finished second in the men’s club throw F51 final, while Atul (45.61m) pulled out a surprise performance to win a medal in the F57 men’s discus final.

The competition had to be stopped around 6pm for almost an hour as rain lashed the Capital. When the competition resumed, the focus was on both Dharambir and Pranav Soorma, who had won the gold and silver in the same event in Paris. However, rain put a spanner in the works. Pranav was fourth in the order of play and was in the medal reckoning for most part of the competition. He was second behind Mexico’s Mario Santana Ramos.

However, Pranav (28.19m) was first displaced to fourth place by Aleksandar Radisic, whose attempt of 30.36m won him the gold medal. Neutral athlete Uladzislau Hyrb, who won the bronze medal with a best throw of 28.70m, further relegated Pranav to the fifth place.

Dharambir said the rain made it harder for all the throwers. “I would have been far happier with the gold medal but considering the rain it was a good day for me as I won silver,” he said. “Conditions were difficult for all of us, you could see everyone was struggling to reach their

personal best,” he added.

His coach and Paralympian Amit Saroha said that the wet conditions affected the grip. “F51 is the most challenging competition as you can see all limbs are affected. The wet conditions made it hard to grip and that is why you could see most of the best throws were registered in the very first attempt. The moment the club got wet it started to get harder for everyone,” Saroha said.

“I would have loved to see Pranav Soorma win a medal today as I think he is a wonderful athlete but considering the conditions I am happy that we won a medal,” he added.

In the F57 discus final, Atul finished behind Libya’s Mohammad Rajab, who registered a championship record of 46.73m, and Brazil’s Thiago Dos Santos, who had a best attempt of 45.69m.

Earlier, India’s discus thrower Haney came within a whisker of winning the bronze medal in the F37 category. Haney started brightly with a throw of 51.22m but could not better the mark. Haney’s dreams were dashed as Japan’s Yamato Shimbo recorded a personal best throw of 54.50m in his last attempt to win silver. It pushed Ukraine’s Mykola Zhabnyak to third and Haney had to settle for a fourth place finish.