Paris: India’s Ravi Rongali finished in fifth place in the men’s shot put F40 final with a personal best effort of 10.63m in the ongoing Paris Paralympics at Stade de France on Sunday.
Rongali, who won silver in last year’s Asian Para Games, achieved the best result in his third attempt after starting with 10.44m and 10.49m respectively.
He fouled in the fourth attempt before lowering to 9.83m in the next attempt. The 28-year-old produced a 10m throw in his last attempt of the final to finish in fifth place.
Portugal’s Miguel Montero, who currently holds the world record in the category, bagged the gold with a throw of 11.21m while Mongolia’s Battulga Tsegmid (11.09m) won silver. Defending Asian Para Games champion Garrah Tnaiash of Iraq took the bronze with a throw of 11.03m while Russian Tokyo Paralympics gold medallist and reigning world para athletics champion Denis Gnezdilov, who was competing as Neutral Paralympic Athlete, was fourth with 10.80m.
F40 class is for para-athletes with short stature. Earlier in the day, Rakshita Raju finished last out of four runners in Heat 3
of women’s 1500m T11 race, recording a time of 5:29.92. The top two runners from each of the three heats advanced to the final.
China’s Shanshan He led Rakshita’s heat with a time of 4:44.66, followed by South Africa’s Louzanne Coetzee, who clocked a season-best time of 4:45.25.
The T11 category is designated for athletes with visual impairments, which can range from complete vision loss to the ability to perceive light without distinguishing shapes. T11 athletes generally run with guides.
(IANS)
