Nishad Kumar and Simran Sharma won their maiden World Para Athletics Championships gold in high jump and 100m race respectively, as India clinched four medals to jump to fourth spot on the most productive day for the host nation.
Preethi Pal and Pardeep Kumar added a bronze each in the 200m and discus throw respectively, swelling India's tally and pushing the hosts three places up from seventh. Delhi girl Simran clinched India's first gold of the day, winning the women's 100m T12 final with a personal best time of 11.95 seconds for her maiden title in the event.
She won gold in the 200m event in the last edition in Japan and a bronze in the 2024 Paralympics and is also set to run in the 200m. Born prematurely at six-and-a-half months with visual impairment, 25-year-old Simran trains at the JLN Stadium.
She said: "It's fun to run for my country. I always wanted to do something for my country.
"I won gold 100m and will now give my best to win 200m." For Nishad, it was a double delight as he won the men's high jump T47 event on his 26th birthday – clearing 2.14m to win the gold with an Asian record.
It was also his maiden gold in either Paralympics or world para championships, after winning a silver each in the Tokyo and Paris Paralympics, a bronze in the 2019 world championships and a silver in the 2023 edition. "I have been waiting for this day for a year,” said Nishad.
“I’ve been working very hard for this day. It's God's will. I’ve been waiting for this gold medal for many years.
His victory was all the more special as he beat USA's Roderick Townsend, the five-time defending champion and three-time Paralympic gold medallist. Townsend managed only 2.03m for bronze, while Turkiye's Abdullah Ilgaz took silver with 2.08m.
In the women's 200m T35 final, Preethi clocked a season's best of 30.03 seconds to take the bronze behind Guo Qianqian (29.50 seconds) of China and Fatimah Suwaed (30.00 seconds) of Iraq. In the men's discus throw F64, Pardeep produced a season best effort of 46.23m to take the bronze.
Ivan Katanusic of Croatia won the gold with a throw of 55.12m while Max Rohn of USA took the silver with 50.92m. The T35 classification is for athletes with co-ordination impairments, while F64 is for those with moderately affected lower limb movement or leg absence below the knee.
