Raising the bar

Kapil Parmar became India’s first Paralympics medallist in judo with a bronze in the men’s 60kg (J1) category as the country’s inspirational para-athletes achieved their stated goal of 25 medals here today.

The 24-year-old Parmar, who was making his Games debut, defeated Brazil’s Elielton de Oliveira 10-0 in the playoff, dominating his opponent throughout the contest to clinch a historic podium finish.

India’s medal count rose to 25, including five gold, nine silver and 11 bronze. The nation is placed 14th in the overall standings. In its pre-Games estimate, the Paralympic Committee of India had stated that it was hoping to win at least 25 medals from the quadrennial showpiece.

That target has been met and the final count could well be higher even though the hopes of achieving a double-digit gold medal tally could remain unfulfilled.

Parmar’s medal was among the least expected from the mega event. However, it was not entirely a surprise given that he won a silver medal at the Para Asian Games last year. The J1 category is reserved for visually impaired judokas.

Son of a taxi driver, Parmar’s eyesight deteriorated progressively after he was electrocuted as a nine-year-old while trying to fetch water from a water pump in the fields of his village in Madhya Pradesh.

He was discovered in an unconscious state by a fellow villager and was hospitalised in Bhopal. He spent six months in coma before making a slow and painful recovery.

What remained intact was his love for judo, a sport that he picked up while in school, and with the help of his coaches Bhagwan Das and Manoj, he entered para-sports.

But the limited financial means of his family meant that Parmar had to run a tea stall with one of his four brothers to support himself at one stage of his life. He trains at the Indian Blind and Para Judo Academy in Lucknow.

“I am currently world No. 1 and the top seed, so I had come with gold medal in mind. But it was not my day and had to settle for bronze. I am feeling proud to have won first para judo medal for the country,” he said.

Simran ends 4th in 100m

Indian sprinter Simran was undone by a slow start as she finished fourth in the women’s 100m (T12) final after clocking 12.31 seconds in the final.

Accompanied by her guide Abhay Singh, the 24-year-old reigning world champion from New Delhi had qualified second with a timing of 12.33s behind Germany’s Katrin Mueller-Rottgardt in the second semifinal. Simran, who was born prematurely with visual impairment, was ranked third overall. However, despite marginal improvement in her timings, she could not finish inside the medal bracket. Cuba’s Omara Durand clinched the gold with a season’s best performance of 11.81s.

Heartbreak in archery

Individual gold medallist Harvinder Singh and Pooja Jatyan looked good for a mixed team recurve bronze but it was not to be as the duo lost a shoot-off to Slovenia’s Ziva Lavrinc and Dejan Fabcic 4-5 in the playoff.

It was an opportunity for Harvinder to script some more history after becoming India’s first gold medallist in archery on Wednesday.

The Indians led 4-2 going into the final set but lost the plot thereafter, allowing the Slovenian combination to first draw level before closing the match in the shootoff.