Preethi Pal has become the first Indian woman to win two paralympic medals in track and field events by winning a bronze in the women’s 200 T35 class at Paris 2024 on Sunday.
Preethi Pal won a personal best timing of 30.01s . and came through to the final to finish in third place. The 23-year-old Indian athlete had won a bronze in the women’s 100m T35 class earlier on Friday to make a history of winning the first Paralympic medal in the form of a track event.
In the 200m event, Xia Zhou and Guo Qianqian secured the gold and silver medals for the People’s Republic of China, respectively. All in all, Xia Zhou finished the race in 28.15s, to Mnqwazi, while Guo Qianqian posted the fastest time of the race with 29.09s. The same Chinese pair outclassed Preethi Pal to secure the top two places also in the 100m sprint race.
T35 class is specific for those runners who have coordination deviations such as hypertonia, ataxia and athetosis.
Preethi earned herself her first Paralympic Games spot by winning a bronze medal in the women’s 200m T35 event at the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, this year.
The Indian para athlete had a chance of winning a medal in the recently concluded Asian Para Games in China last year but she transferred her training to New Delhi. The move has proved lucrative, for she now wins two Paralympic medals.
“This is after five years of effort but there are people who have been bullying me and saying that I only won those because I was lucky,” Preethi said after earning her second medal.
In aiming tonight, one will convince people it is not through luck but through work. This is because of my coach Gaje-bhaiya (Gajendra Singh), and I found myself vomiting during trainings because of the high intensity she said.
Preethi claimed bronze on Sunday and India has so far secured six medals at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
The remaining four honored to India came through a para shooting event. India`s Avani Lekhara got gold in the women’s 10 meter air rifle standing SH1 event and Mona Agarwal won bronze in the same class. Manish Narwal clinched silver in the men’s 10m air pistol SH1 event and Rubina has settled for a bronze medal in the women’s 10m air pistol SH1 category.
