With India bagging just two medals at the Rio Olympics, all eyes were on the Paralympics contingent as they began their quest for glory on Thursday. However, day one proved to be a forgettable one for the Indians as Amit Kumar Saroha, Naresh Kumar Sharma and Farman Basha failed to win a medal.
Discus thrower Saroha was last in a pool of seven contenders on Thursday. Saroha could only conjure up a distance of 9.01 m in his fourth attempt after failing in his first three. He again faltered in his fifth attempt before ending with 8.7 m in his sixth and final one.
In round one of the men's 10 m air rifle standing qualification, Sharma finished second-to-last in a field of 22 shooters and in the process failed to reach the medal round. The Indian athlete could only score a total of 583.0 in the four attempts that he had. He was off the mark from the start and never looked comfortable as the round progressed.
The only silver lining of the day was the performance of powerlifter Farman Basha, who missed out on a bronze medal as he finished fourth in the men's 49 kg powerlifting category. Basha successfully lifted 140 kg in his first attempt, but missed his second and third attempts of 150 kg and 155 kg respectively. Cong van Le won the gold and set a Paralympic record by lifting 181 kg. Omar Qarada of Jordan won silver by hitting 177 kg, while Hungary's Nandor Tunkel took the bronze with 155 kg on the board.
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