Paris Paralympics 2024 Day 5 Highlights: Sumit Antil in javelin, Nitesh Kumar in badminton win gold; India win 8 medals on a historic day

#Paralympics2024

With mixed team archery bronze, #SheetalDevi adds another chapter to glorious legacy

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— Express Sports (@IExpressSports) September 2, 2024

#Paralympics2024 #SumitAntil defends Paralympics #JavelinThrow title: ‘He brings us gold ornaments but his gold medals are biggest gifts’, says mother

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— Express Sports (@IExpressSports) September 2, 2024

Why Nitesh Kumar’s first call after #Paris2024 #Paralympics gold in para badminton was to defending champion #PramodBhagat | By Shivani Naik https://t.co/QUmQlayMvI

— Express Sports (@IExpressSports) September 2, 2024

August 30, 2021: India had won 5 medals in Tokyo 

September 2, 2024: India win EIGHT MEDALS in one day in Paris 

NITHYA SRE SUMATHY SIVAN WINS BRONZE: What a day, indeed. It is yet another medal on already what was India's greatest single day at the Paralympics. And Nithya Sre breezes through to a bronze in SH6 women's singles against an opponent she had never won before. Rina definitely didn't look right, there had to be something bothering her. But even so, super aggressive from Nithya and she wins a fifth badminton medal for India in Paris. 

This is utterly remarkable. A bronze is here almost!

This is quite incredible from Nithya! Rina doesn't seem to be moving well at all but Nithya has played such an aggressive game.

Well, well, well. Nithya Sre takes the lead! Another fist-pump as she makes her way for the change of ends. A series of lovely deft touches to close the game out. Very streaky game with a run of points for both players. But Nithya does enough. Marlina doesn't seem to be moving too well.

Nithya Sre made a FABULOUS start, leading 7-1 at one point. But Rina has made it 10-10. The Indian does go into the interval with a 1-point lead and a mini fist pump.

Match WSUMATHY SIVAN Nithya Sre vs MARLINA Rina Finally, after a delay. Here we go. And what a start for Nithya too.

After some frustrations, Kanchan does go past her PB, with her last attempt. Won't be enough for a medal, but a credible effort to get your PB at the big stage always.

Kanchan has a PB of 10, she'd look to get that or more. Not quite there in the first two hrows.

Kanchan Lakhani will be next.

World Record-holder (55.07) Deepthi clocks 55.45 to win her heat 

World Record-holder (55.07) 

#Paris2024 #Paralympics #Archery

What an amazing podium.

There is 17-year-old Sheetal Devi, the only female armless archer in Paris. ?

But there's also a 7-month old baby! Jodie Grinham, 7 months pregnant, wins gold -- her 2nd medal of the Games.?https://t.co/BKH7Furf56 pic.twitter.com/06NLEZWhx5

— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) September 2, 2024

India's Kanchan Lakhani will be in action here soon.

Was there any doubt? Sumit Antil is a two-time Paralympic champion. And with a New Paralympic Record, to go with.

Screengrab: YouTube Paralympics

Fourth in Rio, fourth in Tokyo, fourth in Paris. Just not to be for Sandeep.

64.89 is the mark that Sandeep will have his eye on. He has a 66+ in him as a PB, let's see. 

Sandip's work is done, his best of the day was 58.03m

All eyes on Sandeep now. Can he find that bronze medal throw ?

Sandeep with a cry of anguish, it might have been his best throw of the night, but it wasn't quite bronze worthy. But he fell over the white line anyway. Last attempt coming up.

Four attempts done. Sandeep will dearly love an improvement soon. Sumit didn't like his throw, so he steps out.

Sandeep doesn't improve with his fourth attempt, he really needs a little bit extra from somewhere soon.

Fourth attempts coming up.

SUKANT KADAM FINISHES FOURTH: It was a tough ask for Sukant against Fredy, and the Indonesian prevailed in straight games. 

Sumit with 66.66 for his 3rd attempt, no record broken! BREAKING NEWS, etc. (We kid)

Sandeep improves to 62.80 with his third attempt, and that keeps him in fourth place but closer to the third-place mark. 

BRONZE MEDAL ALERT: SHEETAL DEVI AND RAKESH KUMAR! 

MORE DRAMA!!!!

The Indians shoot 10, 9, 10 10 in the final end to get to 155. The Italians respond with 9, 9, 10, 10 to level at 155-155. But this time, just like it had happened in the semi-final where India lost, there is an asterisk over an arrow, this time shot by the Indian Sheetal Devi. The asterisk means that the judges will take a closer look at the arrow to confirm the score. The same thing had happened to India in the semis, where the Iranians had a arrow upgraded from nine to 10, which saw India lose the semis. 

And after a tense recount, it's confirmed that Sheetal had shot a 10 not a nine,. This means India has won a bronze medal!  

Before this, India had only ever won one medal at the Paralympics (and none at the Olympics) in archery. That solo medal had come in recurve archery when para archer Harvinder Singh had claimed a medal at Tokyo three years back

End of secnd attempts, and Sumit continues to be far ahead of the field.

Oh dear! With just four arrows left, the Indians are trailing by a point! The star of the match so far has been Eleonora Sarti who has hit ALL HER SIX ARROWS IN THE 10 RING. Matteo Bonacina has just hit three 10s. But his partner is currently finding the centre ring at will

70.59! SUMIT ANTIL! Once again, he breaks his own Paralympic Record. Nishad Kumar whistling on from the stands. Sumit with the thigh-five to celebrate. 

The world record stands at 73.29m set up by Sumit Antil in last year’s Hangzhou Para Asian Games. Can the Indian better his world record mark once again in Paris?

Rakesh Kumar and Sheetal Devi are trailing by two points in the bronze medal match of the mixed team para archery event at the Paris Olympics. They're facing Italy's Eleonora Sarti and Matteo Bonacina, who have just dropped a 40 in the first end, which makes the 38 shot by the Indians seem inadequate.

Amit Kamath

Sumit miles ahead of the field, Sandeep is played fourth, Sandip is 54.86.

Sumit won Tokyo gold with 68.55. Sumit starts Paris 2024 with 69.11. A new Paralympic Record, thank you very much.

Sumit Antil (Men's Javelin Throw - F64)

Sumit's rise from Tokyo Paralympics is one of the stories of Indian sport in recent times. He shot to the limelight in some style with a series of world record-breaking throws in Tokyo (where he wong gold with 68.55 eventually). Sumit has since gone on to win gold at the World Championships twice (Paris 2023 and Kobe 2024), as well at the Asian Para Games last year. In Hangzhou, he broke the World Record again with 73.29. He is not only India's flagbearer at the opening ceremony but also the flagbearer for India's para athletics program.

Time for Sukant Kadam's bronze medal match. It's going to be a massive ask for the Indian on Paralympics debut against the pedigreed Indonesian 32 year old, Fredy Setiawan. 

SILVER MEAL ALERT: In the end, Suhas couldn't just keep up with Lucas Mazur, the French superstar. Mazur defends the title in some style, unlike the epic battle we saw between these two in Tokyo. The arena is bouncing! But, it is a fine silver again for Suhas... at 41 , this time.

Great Britain are in the final, so India vs Italy coming up in the bronze medal match. 

We are not far away from the event that has been highly anticipated. Sumit Antil, India's flagbearer, will be the headliner. But, Sandip Sanjay Sargar and Sandeep are also in fray. 

Suhas Yathiraj needs a miracle to turn this around against French's para badminton superstar. 

Just raw emotions from the Iranians after winning this. (Hemmati wasn't even in the frame, she was off celebrating! Her arrow won the match for Iran) 

Screengrab: Paralympics

This is some drama in the shootoff. All four archers had one arrow each. Rakesh shot first for India but despite shooting a 10, his arrow was 31.9mm away from the centre. The Iranian Fatemeh Hemmati then sends his arrow 1.1 mm away from the centre. Sheetal now needs to send her arrow closer to the centre than 1.1 mm (or at least hit the 10 ring and then hope that Iran's second arrow is a nine, which means the Indians will have a better cumulative score with 20 compared to 19). But that depends on Hadi Nori hitting a nine or worse. 

Hadi Nori hits a 10, and the Iranians are heading to the final. The Indian pairing of Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar will compete for bronze medal. 

IRAN on the left, India on the right. 

Suhas not really in the game as Lucas takes the opener 21-9. Can he somehow turn this around? 

SHOOT OFF IN THE SEMI-FINAL!! 152-152

Rakesh Kumar and Sheetal Devi will have to beat the Iranians in a tension-filled winner-takes-all shoot off to make it to the final! 

It looked like the Indians had won it after the Iranians shot a nine with their 4th arrow in the final end. But there's some drama here. The target judge revises a shot of nine from Iran (their second arrow in the final end) to make it a 10 after evaluation. And we're heading into a shootoff!

Amit Kamath

The Indian pairing looks to be under pressure here, and are starting to lose steam a little bit. The teenaged Sheetal is clearly feeling the pressure and she's having the coach talk to her to calm her down. Heading into the final end, the scores are now level at 113-113.

Amit Kamath on End 3

It was a 9* for one of Iran's arrows. India do their bit with 39 in the final End. A lovely X from Sheetal. India think they might have won this... ...but that 9* is ruled a 10! Iran celebrate. It is a shootoff!

Suhas is not off to the best of starts.

Wea arae level with End 4 coming up.

A little too much variance there for Sheetal.

OH DEAR! What just happened there? Sheetal Devi shoots a SEVEN with her final arrow of the second end. But India still have a slender lead of 76-75 at the halfway stage of the semi-final over Iran's Fatemeh Hemmati and Hadi Nori in the mixed team event.

SUHAS YATHIRAJ reached back-to-back Paralympics finals, defeating Sukant Kadam in the Men's Singles SL4 semifinal. It was a tough opening game for the world No 1 who trailed 14-17, but he reeled off seven straight points to take the lead. The second game was a bit more comfortable 21-17, 21-12. The 2nd game actually had longer rallies on average even though the scoreboard suggests otherwise. But Sukant was left to rue the run he of points he gave up towards the end of the first game. Had he won that game, perhaps he could have put Suhas under more pressure. He will now compete for bronze on his debut. Suhas, the 41-year-old IAS officer who had won silver in Tokyo and a rematch of that final awaits, against French star Lucas Mazur. The Indian had just overtaken Mazur to be World No 1 but he will have his task cut out in front of a raucous home crowd. Mazur had beaten Suhas twice in Tokyo, first in the group stage and then in the title clash. In the final, Suhas had taken the lead but Mazur fought back to win in three.

India's Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar are leading 39-38 after the first end in the semis against Iran's Fatemeh Hemmati and Hadi Nori of the mixed team event. Just one nine from India across the first four arrows and two shots in the spider! India have only ever won one medal at the Paralympics in archery, that too came in recurve archery when Harvinder Singh won a medal at Tokyo three years back.

Amit Kamath

#Paris2024 #Paralympics #Archery

Sheetal Devi allows herself a little smile after that ?

Why not eh? https://t.co/BKH7FuqHfy pic.twitter.com/YXYFrob9pw

— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) September 2, 2024