Khelo India Para Games: Manish Narwal clinches air pistol gold

Tamil Nadu’s powerlifter Kasthuri Rajamani bagged the gold medal in the 67kg category with a massive effort of 100kg in her third attempt.

FILE -Gold medallist Manish Narwal of India poses for photographs during the presentation ceremony of the P4-Mixed 50m Pistol Shooting event at the Tokyo Paralympics 2020, in Tokyo, Saturday, Sep 4, 2021.  | Photo Credit: PTI

Top Indian para shooter Manish Narwal added to his string of fine performances over the past few months by winning the men’s 10m air pistol (SH1 category) gold in the Khelo India Para Games here on Thursday.

The 21-year-old champion marksman, who had won gold in P4 mixed 50m pistol SH1 category in the Tokyo Paralympics, and a bronze in 10m air pistol SH1 at the Para Asian Games in Hangzhou recently, scored 240.2 to stand on the top of the podium at the Karni Singh shooting ranges.

Haryana’s Manish, who suffers from a disability in his right hand, surpassed his gold-winning score of 239.7 in the same category achieved at this year’s Lima World Shooting Para Sport Championships.

Rudransh Khandelwal, who had clinched silver ahead of Manish in 10m air pistol SH1 at Hangzhou, claimed the second spot here.

Tamil Nadu’s powerlifter Kasthuri Rajamani bagged the gold medal in the 67kg category with a massive effort of 100kg in her third attempt.

Kasthuri, who competed at the Asian Para Games recently, was a runaway winner ahead of silver medallist Parul Gohil of Gujarat (64kg) and Punjab’s Sumandeep, who won bronze with a lift of 57kg.

In the elite 73kg category, Reshma Mogil from Gujarat was a clear winner with a lift of 72kg. The silver was won by Sahista of Delhi, who lifted 58kg while the bronze went to Maya from Rajasthan (57kg).

In the men’s 80kg category, Punjab’s Gursewak Singh was in stunning form. He began with a lift of 162kg, increased it to 166kg and finally finished it with 171kg to win gold.

Abdul Salam of Kerala won silver (155kg), while Delhi’s Honey Dabas settled for bronze (152kg).

Karnataka’s Sandesha BG won gold with an effort of 171kg in the elite 88kg section. Delhi’s Jagmohan was second (145kg), while the bronze went to Divyesh Ladani of Gujarat (140kg).

In para table tennis, Gujarat’s Bhavina Patel, who won silver in the 2020 Paralympics and bronze in Hangzhou, was a comfortable 3-0 winner against Gujarat’s Shamim Chawda in her opening match in the women’s Class-4 category.

The bronze medallist at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Sonal Patel from Gujarat, defeated Tamil Nadu’s Fatima Beevi 3-0 in her opening match in the women’s Class 1-3 category.