India secured eight medals on Monday at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, with Nitesh Kumar claiming the first gold in badminton and defending champion Sumit Antil taking gold in the men’s javelin throw F64.
Kumar earned his first Paralympic gold in the men’s singles SL3 category, while Antil broke his own Paralympic record with a remarkable throw of 70.59m on his second attempt.
Antil defends crown
Antil shattered the Paralympic record with a throw of 69.11 meters on his first attempt. The 26-year-old from Haryana then surpassed his own record in the very next throw, becoming the first athlete in Paralympic history to break the 70-meter barrier in the event.
Antil continued to demonstrate his dominance with throws of 66.66m and 69.04m in his third and fifth attempts, although he fouled on his fourth throw.
India came close to securing two medals in the event with Sandeep finishing fourth with a best throw of 62.80m on his third attempt.
Sandip Sanjay Sargar, the third Indian representative in the event, finished seventh with a best throw of 58.03m.
Kathuniya wins silver
Earlier in the day, Yogesh Kathuniya won silver in the men’s F56 discus throw event.
Kathuniya secured his second consecutive Paralympic silver medal in the event with a season’s best performance of 42.22m.
He had assured himself of a podium finish on his very first attempt. Kathuniya, however, had won silver in Tokyo with a significantly better throw of 44.38m.
Five medals in badminton
In badminton, other than Kumar, Thulasimathi Murugesan and Manisha Ramadass added to India’s tally with a silver and bronze respectively in the women’s singles SU5 event, while Suhas Yathiraj captured his second consecutive Paralympic silver in the men’s singles SL4 event.
Kumar displayed extraordinary resilience and tactical brilliance triumphing over Great Britain’s Daniel Bethell with a 21-14, 18-21, 23-21 victory in a thrilling final to deliver India’s first gold of the event.
In the women’s singles SU5 category, 22-year-old Thulasimathi put up a strong fight but ultimately fell short against China’s defending champion Yang Qiuxia, losing 17-21, 10-21 to claim the silver.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old Ramdass, secured the bronze with a commanding 21-12, 21-8 victory over Denmark’s Cathrine Rosengren.
Later in the day, Yathiraj won silver after he succumbed to a straight-games 9-21, 13-21 defeat to home favorite Lucas Mazur in the final on Monday.
In the last event of the day featuring an Indian, Nithya Sre Sivan defeated Indonesia’s Rina Marlina in a dominant 21-14, 21-6 straight games victory in the women’s singles SH6 to claim the bronze.
Wait ends in archery
A long wait for a medal in archery came to an end as Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar triumphed over Italy’s Eleonora Sarti and Matteo Bonacina to claim the bronze medal in the mixed team compound open event.
In the semi-final, The Indian duo had narrowly missed out in a dramatic shoot-off against Iran's Fatemeh Hemmati and Hadi Nori.
With these eight medals added on Monday, India’s medal tally swells to 15 with three gold, five silver, and seven bronze medals.
