India’s world champion Deepthi Jeevanji got here up in need of her greatest timing as she received a bronze medal within the girls’s 400m T20 class remaining race on the Paralympics on Tuesday. Deepthi, who turns 21 later this month, clocked 55.82 seconds to complete behind Yuliia Shuliar (55.16 seconds) of Ukraine and world file holder Aysel Onder (55.23) of Turkey. Shuliar had received a silver in Tokyo Paralympics three years in the past.
Deepthi had come into Paris Paralympics as a powerful contender for the gold after a top-place end on the World Para-Athletics Championships in Could in Japan the place she had clocked the-then world file of 55.07 seconds.
Turkish runner Onder smashed Deepthi’s world file in the course of the heats on Monday with a time of 54.96 seconds. Onder had completed second behind Deepthi within the 2024 World Para-Athletics Championships in Could.
T20 class is supposed for athletes with mental impairment.
Nonetheless, Deepthi, born to daily-wage labourer mother and father in Kalleda village within the Warangal district of Telangana, turned the second Indian to win a medal in a observe occasion on the Paralympics after Preethi Pal.
On Sunday, Preethi had created historical past as she turned the primary Indian lady observe and discipline athlete to win two medals on the Paralympics. The 23-year-old Preethi bagged a bronze within the 200m T35 class with a private greatest time of 30.01 seconds. She had additionally received a bronze within the 100m T35 class on Friday.
Deepthi’s bronze, received in her debut Paralympics, was India’s sixth medal from para-athletics.
For a very long time, Deepthi’s mother and father had been taunted by fellow villagers for having a “mentally impaired” youngster. They had been on the receiving finish of taunts from the villagers, who would typically say that she would by no means get married since she was “mentally impaired”.
On the age of 15, Deepthi was first noticed by N Ramesh, an Athletics Federation of India coach underneath the payrolls of the Sports activities Authority of India.
Deepthi had received the 400m T20 gold within the Hangzhou Asian Video games final yr with the then Asian file of 56.69 seconds.
Apparently, Deepthi has competed together with able-bodied athletes within the junior in addition to senior championships. She has received a number of medals on the junior stage whereas competing alongside able-bodied athletes.
She final competed in an able-bodied senior occasion on the 2022 Nationwide Inter-State Championships in Chennai the place she ran the 100m and 200m. Earlier than that, she competed with able-bodied athletes in the course of the 2021 Nationwide Senior Inter-State Championships in Patiala and received the 200m bronze.
She received the 200m bronze within the 2019 Asian U18 Championships (able-bodied) with a time of 24.78 seconds.
Earlier within the day, Bhagyashri Jadhav completed fifth within the girls’s shot put (F34).
Jadhav, making her second look on the Paralympics, produced a throw of seven.28m however it was not sufficient for a podium end.
China’s Lijuan Zou received the gold with a season better of 9.14m whereas Poland’s Lucyna Kornobys secured the silver with an effort of 8.33m.
The 39-year-old from Nanded district in Maharashtra was one of many flag-bearers of the Indian contingent on the opening ceremony.
Athletes within the F34 class need to take care of co-ordination impairments together with hypertonia (stiff muscle groups), ataxia (poor muscle management) and athetosis (sluggish, writhing motion of the limbs or trunk).
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