New Delhi, Oct 4 (IANS) The spotlight was well and truly on Praveen Kumar at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships (WPAC) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Saturday evening. Praveen, who had brought the country glory multiple times in the past, came up with a superb performance on the penultimate day here on Saturday.

India needed just one more gold medal to achieve their best haul in terms of gold in the history of WPAC – they had won 6 gold in the Kobe WPAC. So, Praveen was the man of the moment.

He was the man with the shortest run-up in the men’s high jump T64. Before running in, he signalled to the enthusiastic crowd to quiet down so that he could focus better. He was a man on a mission to all intents and purposes. And he did very well for the large part of the event. But Uzbekistan’s Temurbek Giyazov flew away to the gold with a personal best of 2.03. Jonathan Broom-Edwards of Great Britain took silver at 2.00.

Praveen looked gutted after getting bronze on countback and spoke of his disappointment, and gave the reason why he couldn’t live up to expectations. “I have got a bronze medal, but I will try to get a gold medal next time. I had a hip injury. I had a pain in the middle of my hip. And that got in the way of my doing better,” he said.

Ekta Bhyan’s silver in the women’s club throw F51 around the same time improved the mood of the local supporters. She recorded her season best at 19.80, but Zoia Ovsii of Ukraine (24.03 being her best effort) was so extraordinary from her first attempt that the idea of Ekta pulling off a gold never crossed anyone’s mind, if truth be told.

Ekta sounded satisfied with her result, which was understandable in light of Ovsii’s brilliance. “Yes, I was 21 plus metres in the Asian Games. I won a gold medal in the World Championship [Kobe 2024], but yes, my performance is okay. And I am happy with that,” she said.

Now all focus switches to Simran for Sunday’s 200m T12 as well as to Paris Paralympic F41 javelin gold winner Navdeep Singh. Simran, who won gold in the 100m on Saturday, beat the competition in her Heat to finish first and reach the semis.

She, in the company of her guide Umar Saifi, recorded her season best (25.03). “We are highly motivated, but we are not thinking about our gold [100m] anymore; we are totally focused on the next event. We can’t be sure of anything; it’s a world championship. We just have to stay fit. We have to hydrate ourselves. And have to be prepared for the heat and the final tomorrow,” Simran’s husband and coach, Gajendra Singh, said.

In another medal for India on Saturday, Soman Rana picked up a silver (initially awarded a bronze but turned to silver after a successful protest against Thiago Paulino Dos Santos’ 14.82 throw) in the men’s shot put F57.

He recorded a season-best throw of 14.69. There were three Indians in the fray, Hokato Hotozhe Sema and Shubham Juyal being the other two. With Rana’s silver, India surpassed Kobe’s overall medal tally of 17, which now makes the New Delhi WPAC their best show to date.

–IANS

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