Asian Para Games: India continues medal hunt with 16 medals; placed 5th in medal table (round-up)

Hangzhou (China), Oct 24 (IANS) Prachi Yadav became the first Indian to win a gold in para-canoe even while Neeraj Yadav, Yogesh Kathuniya, Paralympic Games silver medallist, and Muthuraja swept the three podium places in the Men's Discus Throw F54/55/56 Final as India continued their medal hunt in the 4th Asian Para Games here on Tuesday, winning 16 medals including three gold of the second day of medal competitions.

India had made a sensational start on Monday by winning six gold, six silver and five bronze medals. On Tuesday, they bagged three more gold medals, six silver and seven bronze medals, taking their tally to 34 medals. Overall, India slipped one place to fifth behind hosts China, who are leading with 165 medals (67 gold, 53 silver, 45 bronze), Iran 47 including 16 gold, Japan with 45 with 12 gold and Uzbekistan with 38 medals including 12 gold.

The final of the Men's Discus Throw F54/55/56 was apt proof of India's dominance in track and field events as Neeraj Yadav won gold with a throw of 38.56 metres, setting an Asian Para Games record in the process. 

Yogesh Kathuniya, who son silver in men's discus throw in Tokyo Paralympic Games, took the silver medal while Muthuraja claimed the bronze medal with a throw of 35.06m.

Deepti Jeevanji won the second gold for India in the Women's 400m-T20 Final, clocking 56.69 seconds for a new Asian Para Games record.

Canoeist Prachi Yadav claimed the third gold for India in the Women's KL2 Final, clocking 54.962 seconds to win her second medal of this edition of the Asian Para Games. India won bronze medals in Canoeing, through Manish Kaurav in the Men's KL3 Final while Gajendra Singh finished third in the Men's VL2 Final. Prachi became the first Indian canoeist to win a gold medal in the Asian Para Games, adding to the silver she won on Monday.

In shooting, Rudransh Khandelwal also claimed his second medal of the 4th edition of the Asian Para Games, winning another silver medal -- in P1 - Men's 10m Air Pistol SH1. He had won a silver on Monday in the P4 - Mixed 50m Pistol SH1.

India had a double podium in this event as Manish Narwal bagged the bronze medal in this event. Khandelwal finished with a score of 238.3 to end behind China's Huang Xing, who had a score of 238.6, an Asian Para Games record while Manish Narwal took the bronze with a score of 217.3. 

Narwal was placed second at the end of the qualifying stage while Khandelwal qualified fifth. Akash, the third Indian in the fray in this finished sixth and made it to the final. He eventually eighth.

Rubina Francis won a bronze medal for India in the P2 - Women's 10m Air Pistol SH1 Final, finishing third with a score of 211.0 behind Iran's Faezeh Ahmadi (236.2) and Sareh Javanmardi (233.0).

In Judo, India's Renuka Narayan Salave lost the bronze medal match to Turuunaa Lkhaijav of Mongolia to finish fifth in the Women's 70 kg J1 while in the Men's 57kg J2, India's Gulshan went down to Kazakhstan's Dayana Fedossova 0-11 in the bronze medal match.

Indians did well in archery and badminton, marching towards the medal rounds in multiple categories in both. The same is the case with table tennis; in blind football, India defeated Malaysia 1-0.

In athletics, India had a double finish in the Men's 1500, T46 Final as Pramod won silver and Rakesh Bhaira claimed bronze. Ravi Rongali won silver in the Men's Shot Put F40 Final while Ajay Kumar claimed silver in the Men's 400m T64 Final. Simran won a silver medal in     

Women's 100m-T12 Final while Ekta Bhyan bagged the bronze medal in the Women's Club Throw-F32/51 Final.

The competitions will continue on Wednesday with the badminton and archery competitions reaching the medal rounds.

--IANS

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