Silver lining for Preethi, Simran and Navdeep

The last day of the World Para Athletics Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium finished on a dramatic note for hosts India.

The women’s 100 metres T35 final had to be conducted again due to a technical fault as the starting pistol was shot twice.

The result of the rerun final stayed the same with China’s Guo Qianqian leading from the start to finish ahead of India’s Preethi Pal and Iraq’s Fatima Suwaed.

While Preethi had the difficult task of running twice within one-and-a-half hours, Simran Sharma benefited from a disqualification in the women’s 200m T12 final and her medal was upgraded to silver. Venezuela’s Alejandra Paolo Perez and her guide Eubrig Jose Caraballo, who had finished first, were disqualified under rule R7.10.4 for ‘pushing, pulling, slingshotting assistance’.

Accordingly, Brazil’s Clara Da Silva and Igor Medeiros, who had finished second with a personal best timing of 24.42 seconds, were upgraded to the gold medal position, while Simran and her guide Umar Saifi got the silver medal with a timing of 24.46. China’s Shen Yaqin and her guide He Yuchong got the bronze medal.

The third silver of the final day was won by 2024 Paralympics gold medallist Navdeep Singh. In the men’s javelin F41 competition, Navdeep finished second behind Iran’s Sadegh Beit Sayah with a best throw of 45.46 metres. Beit Sayah registered a personal best mark of 48.86m, while China’s Sun Pengxiang bagged the bronze medal with a best attempt of 43.60m.

“It was an overall satisfactory day for me as I won a silver medal. I am very happy that I got the chance to perform in my country. Now the season ends for me and I am looking forward to getting away from the sport for at least two months,” Navdeep said.

Preethi got the loudest cheer from the crowd as she had to do it all over again. Chinese Guo won with a timing of 14.24 seconds, followed by Preethi, who logged a season’s best timing of 14.33. Fatima finished with a personal best timing of 14.39.

Preethi said that none of the competitors was comfortable to run the race again. “They could have stopped the race when the gun went off twice. We finished the race and then they asked us to run again. This has never happened, not that I remember,” she said.

“I was worried that I would not be ready to run again. Credit to my physiotherapist that I was ready for the race. It was tough as I was worried about the Iraqi runner. She ran me very close in the first race but I was a little bit more comfortable in the second race,” she added.

The fourth medal was won by Sandeep in the men’s 200m T44 final after he finished third with a personal best timing of 23.60 seconds. Italy’s Marco Cicchetti won the gold medal with a new European record of 23 seconds. Ukraine’s Pavlo Kaplun finished second with a timing of 23.12.