Poor participation continues to dampen World Para Athletics

NEW DELHI, March 12: The World Para Athletics Grand Prix continued to witness poor participation for the second straight day with some events failing to attract enough participants at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday.
Already hit by the withdrawal of several key Indian para athletes, including javelin thrower Sumit Antil, discus exponent Yogesh Kathuniya, and high jumper Praveen Kumar.
The competition on the second day saw many lesser-known Indian para athletes also pulling out, leaving the organisers red-faced.
The men’s 400m T12 event — a competition for whose vision is constricted to a radius of less than five degrees and/or the ability to recognise a moving object at a distance of one metre — saw Dilip Kumar running a lone race, clocking 59.96 seconds.
The only other athlete in the event, Pragadeeshwara Raja Moorthy did not start.
In the men’s 400m (T13, T20) — for athletes with a vision constricted to a radius of less than 20 degrees — Botswana’s Edwin Masuge won the gold in 50.60 seconds, followed by Denis Shabalin, a Neutral Paralympic Athlete (NPA), with a timing of 50.40 seconds.
Two of the three Indians initially registered for the race — Bhushan and Rohit Shah — did not start (DNS), while Pradipsinh Chauhan finished sixth and last, with a timing of 58.62 seconds.
In women’s shot put (F11, F12) — for field athletes with a near-total visual impairment — Svetlana Irzhanova of Kazakhstan emerged winner with a best throw of 8.16 metres with the only other competitor in the fray, Viveka from India, pulling out.
The ongoing event is being touted as a dress rehearsal for the Para Athletics World Championships scheduled here in September. (PTI)