World Para Athletics C'ships: Rinku lands javelin bronze

Rinku Hooda secured the bronze medal in the men's javelin throw F46 event at the World Para Athletics Championships, following an exhilarating final, while fellow Indians Ajeet Singh and Sundar Singh Gurjar struggled in Kobe, Japan on Friday.

Rinku delivered his best throw of 62.77m on his fifth attempt, falling short of his personal best of 67.08m.

Despite winning the bronze, the reigning silver medalist expressed dissatisfaction with his performance.

Defending champion Ajeet Singh finished in fourth place with a best throw of 62.11m, while Sundar Singh Gurjar, the world record holder and Asian Para Games champion, had a disappointing day, failing to reach the 60m mark and finishing eighth with a throw of 59.03m.

Nonetheless, all three javelin throwers will head to the Paris Paralympics having secured their quota spots last year. They will now aim to put this disappointing performance behind them and make a strong comeback at the prestigious event in July-August.

Shot put disappointment

The struggle continued in another field event of the competition as India failed to secure a medal in the men's shot put F51 category. Hokato Sema (13.97m) and Soman Rana (13.68m) finished in 4th and 6th positions respectively.

Soman Rona fell short of his personal best of 15.02m, missing out on a potential medal opportunity.

On the bright side, there was good news from the track event as Simran qualified for the semi-final of the women's 200m T12 category by topping the heats with a very impressive season-best time of 25.26 seconds.

The semifinals and finals are scheduled for the final day of the championships on May 25th.

Preethi Pal will also compete in the women's 100m T35 category, while Navdeep and Prince will be in action in the men's javelin F41 event tomorrow.