PARIS: India judoka Kapil Parma clinched a bronze medal by ousting Brazil’s Elielton de Oliveira in the men’s -60kg J1 contest on Thursday at the Paris Paralympics.
The Indian executed the Ippon in 33 seconds to end the contest and take the bronze medal within the blink of an eye. Kapil’s triumph marked India’s 25th medal at the ongoing edition of the Paralympics.
Kapil entered the bronze medal clash after enduring a 0-10 defeat against Iran’s Banitaba Khorram Abadi in the semi-finals earlier on Thursday.
Kapil, who comes from a small village named Shivor in Madhya Pradesh, made his way into the final four after dominating Venezuela’s Marcos Dennis Blanco with an emphatic 10-0 win.
In the women’s category, Kokila lost her preliminary round clash of the J2 – 48 category 0-10 against Ukraine’s Yuliia Ivanytska. The defeat brought a bitter end to Kokila’s campaign.
India’s medal tally now stands at 25, with five gold, nine silver, and 11 bronze. In the medal tally list, India now stands in the 14th position. The Indian contingent has already broken its best medal haul of 19 that was scripted in the Tokyo edition three years ago.
In the other sporting events, in the para shooting mixed 50m rifle prone SH1 qualification, India’s Sidhartha Babu and Mona Agarwal failed to qualify for the next round.
Sidhartha finished 22nd with a total of 615.8 points, while Mona finished 30th with 610.5 points. The Indian duo struggled to find consistency and shot in the nine-point region, which derailed their chances of making the cut for the final.
Sidhartha’s best performance in the qualification round came in the fourth series when he shot 104.6 points. While Mona’s best came out in the opening series when she shot 104.5 points. However, she coudn’t keep the momentum in her favour and failed to qualify for the final. (ANI)