Haryana takes overall honours in National para athletics

Haryana takes overall honours in National para athletics

Haryana won the overall team (men & women) titles (49 gold, 32 silver and 25 bronze) on the final day of the 23rd National para athletics championships at the Nehru Stadium here on Thursday. Tamil Nadu finished second (17, 18, 12) while Uttar Pradesh (14, 17, 11) came third.

The discus throw events saw stiff competition, with Pradeep Kumar of Services clinching gold in the F62/F64 category with a throw of 44.00m, while Rakesh (Services) dominated the F42/F43/F44 category with a winning distance of 49.52m.

Preeti Pal, the double (women’s 100m & 200m) Paralympic bronze medallist in Paris, and Yogesh Kathuniya, men’s Paralympic silver medallist in discus, didn’t turn up for their respective 200m T35 and discus F56 events.

While Preeti’s name was in the start list, Yogesh’s wasn’t there, but 30 minutes before the event, sources close to the athlete had said Yogesh will “99%” take part.

Lt. Gen. Karanbir Singh Brar was the chief guest.

Other winners: Men: 5000m: T13: Rajesh Yadav (Raj) 16:26.75s; 5000m: T12: M.S. Sharath (Kar) 15.50.49s; discus: F11: Monu Ghangas (Har) 34.69s; F52: Karan Singh (Raj) 13.45m; shot put: F56: Kuldeep Singh (Del) 10.96m.

Women: Javelin: F12: Gangavva Neelappa Hari (Kar) 23.55m; F53: Kanchan Lakhani (Har) 8.39m; long jump: T20: Bhuvi Agarwal (Har) 4.17m; T45/46/47: C.S. Nimisha (T46, Guj) 5.12m.