New Delhi: Ekta Bhyan failed to defend her world championships crown but logged a season’s best of 19.80m to take silver in the women’s club throw F51 event to lead India’s medal charge on Saturday. Soman Rana’s bronze was later upgraded to silver in the men’s shot put F57 competition with Praveen Kumar taking the T64 high jump bronze.
Three medals on the day took India’s medal count to 18 (6 gold, 7 silver, 5 bronze).
With this, the Delhi edition has delivered India’s best ever haul at Para World Athletics. India won 17 medals in Kobe last year.
Ekta couldn’t surpass Ukraine’s world record holder Zoia Ovsii, who bagged gold with a season’s best of 24.03m. All her throws were over 23m. Russia’s Ekaterina Potapova, competing as a neutral athlete, was third with a season’s best (18.60m).
“I won gold at the last Worlds and was expecting a top finish here as well. It was very hot today and in our discipline thermo-regulation is a big challenge,” Ekta said. The F51 category is for athletes with impairment in the trunk, legs and hands.
Among Indians in shot put, Paris Paralympics bronze medallist Hokato Hotozhe Sema came sixth (14.35m) and Shubham Juyal (13.72m) seventh. Hangzhou Asian Para Games silver medallist Soman Rana, with a season’s best of 14.69m, has been placed in silver position as an appeal process is completed.
Rana was third at the end of the competition, but was upgraded after an appeal against Brazil’s Thiago Paulino Dos Santos by Saudi Arabia’s Haidr Salamh. Thiago, initially second, was dropped to fifth.
However, the appeals process is yet to end. “Shot put F57 has been appealed and will be resolved tomorrow (Sunday),” a World Para Athletics official said. Rana was placed second in the WPA website.
Armyman Rana, a subedar in Gorkha Rifles, was a national level boxer who had represented Services. He lost his right leg in a landmine blast in the Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir in 2006.
After his recovery, he was assigned administrative duties. However, his sports ambitions were renewed in 2017 after he got a prosthetic leg at Pune’s Army Artificial Centre. There, Col Gaurav Dutta, then head of the Army Paralympic Node, introduced him to para sports.
“I have the national record of 15.02m. I know I can add more to this mark in the coming months. My target is to win gold in next year’s Asian Para Games and hear the national anthem on the podium,” the 42-year-old said.
Paris Paralympics champion Praveen Kumar took bronze in the high jump T64 event with a clearance of 2.0m.
