Preethi Pal received India’s first athletics medal in a Paralympics monitor occasion as she clinched a bronze within the ladies’s T35 100m competitors with a private greatest time of 14.21 seconds on the Paris Video games on Friday. All of the athletics medals India had received because the 1984 version of the Paralympics have come from discipline occasions.
The 23-year-old Preethi, a farmer’s daughter from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, opened India’s athletics medal account on the second day of competitions.
Preethi had come to Paris after profitable a bronze in the identical occasion on the World Para Athletics Championships in Could.
China’s Zhou Xia (13.58) and Guo Qianqian (13.74) received the gold and silver respectively.
“Extra glory for India as Preeti Pal wins a Bronze medal within the 100m T35 occasion on the #Paralympics2024. Congratulations to her. This success will definitely encourage budding athletes,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.
The outcome was a repeat of the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, as the identical Chinese language runners Xia and Qianqian had received gold and silver there too.
T35 classification is supposed for athletes who’ve coordination impairments corresponding to hypertonia, ataxia and athetosis.
“This was my first Paralympics, and I’m nonetheless but to imagine that I’ve received a medal,” she mentioned.
“I’m feeling proud that I’ve received India’s first monitor medal within the Paralympics.” Preethi can even compete within the T35 200m occasion by which she additionally received a bronze in World Para Athletics Championships.
She was born to a farmer’s household in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. She confronted vital bodily challenges when she was born as her decrease physique was plastered for six days after beginning. Weak legs and an irregular leg posture made her inclined to varied illnesses.
She underwent varied conventional therapies to strengthen her legs, together with sporting calipers for eight years from the age of 5.
At 17, Preethi’s perspective started to vary when she watched the Paralympic Video games on social media. However her life-changing second got here when she met Paralympic athlete Fatima Khatoon, who launched her to para-athletics.
With Fatima’s assist, Preethi competed within the state championships and nationwide occasions from 2018 onwards. She certified for the Asian Para Video games final 12 months in China, the place she completed fourth in each the 100m and 200m sprints.
She moved to Delhi to coach below coach Gajender Singh and fine-tuned her working methods, resulting in her profitable a bronze medal every in 100m and 200m in World Para Athletics Championships.
She additionally obtained out of pocket allowance below Goal Olympic Podium Scheme of the federal government and different monetary help for coaching and competitors.
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