TOKYO, Sep 1: India experienced a disappointing show on day 8 of the Paralympics with swimmer Suyahsh Jadhav getting disqualified for rule violation and shooter Avani Lekhara failed to replicate her success as she crashed out in the qualification round of the mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1 event here on Wednesday.
Suyash Jadhav endured a disappointing outing in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB7 final of the ongoing Paralympic Games as he was disqualified for a rule violation here on Wednesday.
Jadhav, who won a gold in Asian Para Games in 2018 along with two bronze medals and a silver in the 2016 German Swimming Championship, was disqualified as he didn’t comply with World Para Swimming’s rule number 11.4.1, which states that “at any time prior to the first breaststroke kick after the start and after each turn, a single butterfly kick is permitted.” The 27-year-old Jadhav, whose two hands were amputated below the elbow at the age of 11 due to electrocution, was found to have “performed more than one fly kick after the turn”.
Lekhara was not at her usual best as she she finished a disappointing 27th with a score of 629.7, crashing out in the third round. Other Indian para shooters in the men’s event, Sidhartha Babu and Deepak Kumar witnessed a horrible outing, finishing 40th and 43rd respectively with scores of 625.5 and 624.9 at the Asaka Shooting Range. The gold in this event was won by Germany’s Natascha Hiltrop.
Also, India’s mixed team pair of Pramod Bhagat and Palak Kohli went down fighting against second seeds Lucas Mazur and Faustine Noel in the group B opener of the badminton event. Bhagat and Kohli, competing in SL3-SU5 class, went down 9-21 21-15 19-21 against the French team in 43 minutes at the Yoyogi national stadium.
However, world number one shuttler Pramod Bhagat made an impressive start to his campaign in the men’s singles competition but young Palak Kohli endured a tough day at the Tokyo Paralympics, here on Wednesday. Bhagat, the reigning world champion, outwitted fellow Indian Manoj Sarkar 21-10 21-23 21-9 in his men’s singles group A class SL3 opener that lasted 56 minutes. Kohli lost 4-21 7-21 to Japan’s Ayako Suzuki.
India ended the day medal-less after touching the double-digit mark on Tuesday. (PTI)
