Delhi's Simran wins gold as India ends 6th with best-ever 17 medals

India ended their World Para Athletics Championships campaign with unprecedented success scooping 17 medals including six gold to take the sixth spot in the standings with Delhi sprinter Simran Sharma winning the countrys sixth yellow metal on SaturdaySimran won the gold medal in womens 200m T12 event with a personal best time of 2495 seconds on the final day of competitions She shaved off around onefifth of a second from her earlier personal best of 2516 seconds to win the goldDarlenys De La Severino 2508 of Dominica and Lorraine Gomes De Aguiar 2540 won the silver and bronze respectivelyThe T12 category is meant for athletes who have vision impairmentIndia finished with 17 medals 6 gold 5 silver 6 bronze to be at sixth place in the standings This is Indias bestever performance having surpassed the earlier record medal haul of 10 medals 3 gold 4 silver and 3 bronze it won in the 2023 edition in ParisChina ended on top of the pile with 87 medals 33 gold 30 silver 24 bronze Brazil 19 gold 12 silver 11 bronze Uzbekistan 7 gold 4 silver 2 bronze Great Britain 7 gold 2 silver 3 bronze and United States 6 gold 13 silver 5 bronze were at second third fourth and fifth respectivelyIndias other five gold winners are Deepthi Jeevanji womens 400m T20 Sachin Khilari mens shot put F46 Sumit Antil mens javelin F64 Thangavelu Mariyappan mens high jump T63 and Ekta Bhyan womens club throw F51Also Read Sachinrsquos shot at gloryHailing from Burari village in Delhi Simran was born prematurely with impaired vision which makes it difficult for her to see beyond 10m She was kept in an incubator for seven months after her preterm birth But through sheer greed and determination she rose to become a top para athlete of the countryThe 24yearold Simran who was mocked by people during childhood for her vision impairment had won a silver each in 100m and 200m at the Hangzhou Para Asian Games last year Her pillar of support has been her husband and coach Gajendra Singh who is with the Indian Army and hails from GhaziabadTwo other Indians also won a bronze each on Saturday Preethi Pal won a bronze in womens 100m T35 category her second medal of the championships She had earlier won bronze in 200m in the same category on May 19Then Navdeep Singh added another bronze medal in the mens javelin throw F41 category with a season best performance of 4282mAthletes who have coordination impairments compete in T35 category while the F41 event is meant for those with short statureEarlier India were awarded the silver and bronze in mens javelin throw F46 event after winning a protest against secondplace finisher Dinesh Priyantha Herath of Sri LankaRinku Hooda and Ajeet Singh on Friday finished third and fourth respectively in the mens F46 javelin throw final but the result was put on hold after India lodged a protest that Herath was ineligible to compete in the categoryIn para sports athletes are classified into groups with similar levels of physical ability to allow fair competitionThe F46 classification is for athletes with arm deficiency impaired muscle power or impaired passive range of movement in arms with athletes competing in a standing positionHe Herath was not classified properly and did not belong to the F 46 category said an official from the Paralympic Committee of IndiaIndia got a favourable decision and Herath was disqualified Rinku who originally finished third with an effort of 6277m was upgraded to second while Ajeet 6211m was handed a bronzeWe won the protest against the Sri Lankan who had also won gold at the Tokyo Paralympics that he should not have been eligible to competeiquest head coach Satyanarayan told PTINow Rinku is the silver winner from the original third and Ajeet was upgraded from fourth place to bronzeSatyanarayan said the countrys best ever performance here was on expected linesThe number of medals we won was more or less the same that we had targeted though we had aimed for 7 gold Indian para athletics and para sports as a whole is growing We have done better than the 2023 Paris edition which was the best performance then he saidTokyo Paralympics performance in the best so far but the country will do better in Paris Paralympics this yearIndias first medal a gold in mens javelin 46 event in the World Para Athletics Championships was won by the legendary Devendra Jhajharia who is currently the Paralympic Committee of India president in the 2013 edition in Lyon FranceIndia are being represented by 40 athletes including eight women in this championshipsWith agency inputs