Paris Paralympics 2024: Hokato Hotozhe Sema wins bronze in men’s shot put F57

The 40-year-old threw a Personal Best of 14.65 in his fourth attempt to seal India’s 27th medal of the ongoing Paralympic Games.

Hokato Hotozhe Sema in action during the men’s shot put F57 final of the Paris 2024 Paralympics. | Photo Credit: Jio Cinema screengrab

Hokato Hotozhe Sema won bronze in the men’s shot put F57 event of the Paris 2024 Paralympics at the Stade de France on Friday.

The 40-year-old threw a Personal Best of 14.65 in his fourth attempt to seal India’s 27th medal of the ongoing Paralympic Games.

The athlete from Nagaland jumped to third place in the standings with his third throw of 14.40 before improving further in the fourth attempt.

🔹 First-ever athlete from Nagaland to win a Paralympic medal
🔹 Registers a personal best throw of 14.65m
🔹 A bronze medalist at the Hangzhou Asian Games
🔹 A Havildar in the Assam regiment
🔹 Lost his leg to a landmine during an operation at the Line of Control

Take a bow,… pic.twitter.com/BmuQRf0hfJ

— Sportstar (@sportstarweb) September 6, 2024

The other Indian athlete in the reckoning, Soman Rana finished fifth with a best attempt of 14.07. He was third in the standings while completing his set of attempts but fell down the pecking order after better attempts from Teijo Koopikka of Finland and Hotozhe.

Hotozhe’s closest challengers after the completion of his set of throws were Argentina’s Pablo Damian Gimenez and Vitolio Kavakava of France, but both athletes could manage only a best of 12.99.