India at Paralympics 2024 Day 2 as it happened: Avani wins gold; Manish, Mona, Preethi also medal

That’s it from us tonight! Do join us in a few hours time for day three of the Paris Paralympics!

It was a prolific Day 2 for India as four medals were won in shooting and athletics on Friday.

In the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 event, Avani Lekhara defended her title to win gold while Mona Agarwal rounded off the podium with bronze. There was a third medal in shooting for India as Manish Narwal took silver in the men’s 10m air pistol SH1 event.

Preethi Pal won a historic bronze medal in the women’s 100m T35 event to secure India’s first ever Paralympics medal in track events.

Badminton, mixed doubles SL3-SU5: Nitesh Kumar and Thulasimathi Murugesan bow out in the group stage after losing their final group A match. In a winner-takes-all match, the Indian pair was up against the French Pair of Lucas Mazur and Faustine Noel.

Backed by a vocal home crowd the French pair won a tense first game 24-22. The second game followed a similar pattern with both pairs not taking a big lead. The French pair ultimately take the second 21-19 and secure their place in the semi-finals.

Badminton, mixed doubles SH6: Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan and Sivarajan Solaimalai qualify for the semi-finals by the skin of their teeth! Having lost their first group B match, the Indian duo had to beat Thailand’s Meechai Natthapong and Chai Saeyang in straight games to make it to the semi-finals. And they do just that.

They comfortably won the first game 21-7 but were given a tough fight in the second game. They eventually secure a 21-7, 21-17 win and they were pumped up with the win. They top group B on points difference ahead of the American pair of Miles Krajewski and Jayci Simon.

Badminton, men’s singles SH6: Tokyo 2020 champion Krishna Nagar loses his first match 16-21, 18-21 to the USA’s Miles Krajewski. Having lost the first game, Nagar was ahead in the second game only to commit a few unforced errors. Krajewski was relentless as he defended brilliantly to close down the gap and eventually completed the turnaround in the second game.

Nagar now has to beat Thailand’s Meechai Natthapong in straight games tomorrow to stay in the hunt for the quarter-finals.

Athletics, men’s shot put F37 final: Manu finishes in sixth place in the men’s shotput F37 event. The Indian finishes with a foul throw in the final and finishes outside the podium places with a best throw of 13.86m.

Athletics, men’s shot put F37 final: Manu stays in sixth place after five throws. His fifth attempt was a 13.07m.

Badminton, Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5: The Indian pair of Palak Kohli and Suhas Yathiraj lose their final group A match 11-21, 17-21 to top seeds Hikmat Ramdani and Leani Ratri Oktila. The Indian pair had lost both their previous group matches and were out of quarter-final contention going into their final match today. They did not exert themselves too much and rightly so given they have their respective individual campaigns to focus on.

Athletics, men’s shot put F37 final: Manu improves with his fourth attempt and posts 13.86m to climb to sixth.

Athletics, men’s shot put F37 final: Hangzhou Para Asian Games bronze medalist Manu is in action in the men’s shotput F37 final. After three attempts, Manu is in seventh position with a best throw of 13.28m.

Badminton, men’s singles SH6: A thoroughly entertaining match between Sivarajan Solaimalai and top seed Chu Man Kai but the Indian loses 13-21, 21-18, 15-21 in a thrilling 57-minute match. Incredible rallies, some superb gets and they end it with a nice hug at the end. Kai takes the crowd’s applause along with Sivarajan. Lovely scenes.

Sivarajan has now lost both of his matches and faces an uphill task to qualify for the quarter-finals. He needs to beat Great Britain’s Krysten Coombs in straight games and also hope Kai beats Subhan. That would allow Sivarajan to sneak into the last-eight via point difference.

Archery, men’s individual compound round of 32: Shyam Sundar Swami is knocked out in the round of 32! The Indian led the first four ends against Thailand’s Comsan Singpirom. Unfortunately, from his penultimate arrow, Swami shot a 7 to hand Singpirom a lifeline. The Thai archer did not let it go to waste as he tied the scores to force a shootoff. Both archers shot 10 but Singpirom’s arrow was 5.4mm closer to the centre than Swami’s. The Indian looks frustrated to have let the match slip away from him in the final end.

Badminton, women’s singles SH6: Top seed Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan has all but secured her place in the quarter-finals after winning her second group A match. Nithya Sre beat Chinese Taipei’s Cai Yi-Lin 21-12, 21-19 in 24 minutes. She will next face China’s Lin Shuangbao tomorrow in her final group A match.

Badminton, women’s singles SU5: India’s Thulasimathi Murugesan qualifies for the quarter-final by winning her second group A match in the women’s singles SU5 event. The top seeded Indian beat Portugal’s Beatriz Monteiro 21-12, 21-8 in just 26 minutes to top group A.

Archery, men’s individual compound round of 32: World No 1 Rakesh Kumar is through to the round of 16. In the pouring rain, Kumar beats Senegal’s Aliou Drame 136-131. Shyam Sundar Swami will be in action in a couple of hours time.

Shooting, R4 - Mixed 10m air rifle standing SH2 qualification: Sriharsha Devaraddi falls agonisingly short of reaching the final! The Indian finished ninth in the qualification round with a score of 630.7, just 0.1 point behind the eighth-placed shooter.

Shooting, P1 - men’s 10m air pistol SH1 final: Manish Narwal clinches silver! The world No 3 finishes second behind Jo Jeongdu to secure India’s fourth medal at the Paralympics and third in shooting!

Shooting, P1 - men’s 10m air pistol SH1 final: Narwal shoots 19.1 in the eighth series which is enough to ensure a top-2 finish! Jo’s lead at the top is 1.8 which might be just too much for Narwal to overcome.

Shooting, P1 - men’s 10m air pistol SH1 final: Manish Narwal assures India of a fourth medal! He shoots 19.3 in the seventh series and stays in second. Crucially, he increases his lead over third-placed Yang Chao to 1.0.

Shooting, P1 - men’s 10m air pistol SH1 final: No 10s from Narwal in the sixth series and he gives away the lead to Jo Jeongdu. The Indian is second with 177.7 with Jo leading with 178.3. Yang Chao is third with 177.2. Barring a horror seventh series, Narwal is on course to adding to India’s medal tally as he has a 2.9 point lead over fourth-placed Alexander Reyna Jerez.

Shooting, P1 - men’s 10m air pistol SH1 final: Narwal takes the top spot! The Indian shoots 10 and 10.4 while Chao shoots a 10.6 and an 8.8 to drop down to second. Narwal leads by 0.8 points.

Shooting, P1 - men’s 10m air pistol SH1 final: Narwal climbs to second! Buster Antonsen and Alexander Jerez falter with their shots while Narwal shoots 9.5 and 10.4 to climb to second. He trails Chao by just 0.1.

Shooting, P1 - men’s 10m air pistol SH1 final: After the first series of five shots, Narwal is sixth with a score of 48.7. Narwal began with an 8.1 but had three scores in the 10s later on to take him up to sixth. He is 2.3 behind the leader Jo Jeongdu of South Korea.

Shooting, P1 - men’s 10m air pistol SH1 final: After Avani Lekhara and Mona Agarwal’s heroics, it is time for Manish Narwal to try and make it three shooting medals for India today. The 22-year-old Hangzhou Para Asian bronze medallist is in action in the men’s 10m air pistol SH1 final.

Rowing, PR3 Mixed doubles sculls heat: Anita and Narayana Konganapalle finished in fifth place with a timing of 8:06.84 and will compete in the repechage.

Cycling track, men’s C2 3000m individual pursuit: Arshad Shaik finishes last in the qualification round with a time of 4:20.949 minutes. With only the top four progressing to the medal rounds, Shaik’s campaign in the event comes to an end.

Athletics, women’s 100m T35: India have their first track and field medal at the Paris Paralympics! Preethi Pal finishes third behind the Chinese pair of Zhou Xia and Gou Qianqian to claim bronze! Pal was slower off the block and was behind the two Chinese runners and Iraq’s Fatimah Suwaed but got into her rhythm after the halfway mark and got to the finish line ahead of the Iraqi sprinter.

Athletics, women’s 100m T35: Preethi Pal is in action in the women’s 100m T35 final. The youngster is one of the medal contenders having won bronze at the 2024 World Para Championships in May.

Archery, women’s individual compound open round of 32: Ninth seed Sarita breezes into the round of 16 with a 138-124 win over Malaysia’s Nur Jannaton Abdul Jalil.

Shooting, Men's 10M air pistol SH1 qualification: India’s Manish Narwal qualifies for the final while Rudransh Khandelwal narrowly misses out on joining Narwal in the final. Narwal qualifies in fifth place with a score of 565 while Khandelwal finishes ninth with a score of 561, just one point behind the seventh and eighth-placed shooters.

Table tennis, women’s doubles: India’s campaign comes to an end as Bhavinaben Patel and Sonalben Patel bow out in the quarter-final. The eighth-seeded Indians lost 5-11, 6-11, 11-9, 6-11 to South Korea’s second seeds Jung Young A and Moon Sunghye.

Athletics, women’s discus throw final T55: Sakshi Kasana and Karamjyoti Dalal miss out on a medal in the discus throw event. Bahrain’s Rooba Alomari and Latvia’s Diana Krumani both post better marks than the Indians.

Para shooting, women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 final: AND IT’S A SECOND CONSECUTIVE PARALYMPIC MEDAL FOR AVANI LEKHARA!

The Indian shoots a Paralympic record score of 249.7 and will take gold with Lee Yunri taking silver.

Para shooting, women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 final: Agarwal falters at the last stage and finishes with a bronze medal with a final score of 228.7.

Para shooting, women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 final: Some brilliant shooting from Agarwal who moves into top spot with 10.7 and 10.6 in the 19th and 20th shots. Lekhara trails her compatriot by 0.1 points.

Para shooting, women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 final: Lekhara maintains her sizeable lead and Agarwal moves into second place with four shooters remaining in the final.

Para shooting, women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 final: After 16 shots, Lekhara continues to lead the pack and opens up the gap to Lee while Agarwal maintains her third position with a 0.3 point difference to Sweden’s Anna Benson in fourth place.

Para shooting, women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 final: The second elimination is complete and both Indians continue to stay in the medal spots with Lekhara edging ahead of Lee to take top spot with 145.9 points. Agarwal is in third place with 144.8, but is ahead of Ukraine’s Iryna Shchetnik by 0.1 points.

Para shooting, women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 final: After the first elimination, both Lekhara and Agarwal are in the medal positions in second and third place respectively. Lekhara is tied on 124.5 points with South Korea’s Lee Yunri.

Para shooting, women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 final: After 10 shots, Avani Lekhara is in second place with 103.7 points while Mona Aggarwal is in sixth place with 102.7 points.

Athletics, women’s discus throw final T55: Sakshi Kasana pips Karamjyoti Dalal to third place. She let out a roar as soon as the disc left her hands on the fifth throw and it landed well past the 20.22m Dalal had managed. Kasana is in third place now with a season’s best throw of 21.49m.

Athletics, women’s discus throw final T55: After beginning with a 19.55m throw, Sakshi Kasana’s next throws are ruled illegal by the officials. Going from what the official was telling Kasana, it seems like her right leg is not properly tethered to the chair.

Athletics, women’s discus throw final T55: Sakshi Kasana is up next in the final. Karamjyoti Dalal is now in third place after Morocco’s Norelhouda El Kaoui took second place with a best of 23.42m. This means that only one of Dalal and Kasana could end up with a medal today. Of course, there is a chance that neither finishes on the podium.

Para badminton, men’s singles SL3: Nitesh Kumar defeats Jianyuan Yang of China in a straight-sets victory 21-5, 21-11 in the group stage match lasting 27 minutes.

Athletics, women’s discus throw final T55: A strong finish from Karamjyoti Dalal as she posts a season’s best throw! She goes past the 20m mark with her final two throws! A 20.04 and a 20.22 sees Dalal in second place. Dalal will have to wait for some time to know if she has done enough to win a medal with eight throwers coming after her.

Athletics, women’s discus throw final T55: After the first three throws, Karamjyoti Dalal is in second place. She started with a foul throw after the disc landed out of bounds. With the second throw, she put up a mark of 18.78m which puts her in second place. Her third throw lands at 17.87m.

Athletics, women’s discus throw final T55: India’s first medals in Paris might be a few minutes away with Karamjyoti Dalal and Sakshi Kasana in action in the women’s discus throw T55 final. The T55 event is a seated event where athletes throw seated. Since they have to strapped to the chair, each athlete record all six attempts at one go. Dalal is fifth in the order with Kasana seventh.

Para badminton, men’s singles SL3: Manoj Sarkar is defeated by Thailand’s Mongkhon Bunsun 21-19, 21-8.

Para shooting, women’s 10m air rifle standing qualification: Defending champion Avani Lekhara and Delhi World Cup 2024 champion Mona Agarwal both successfully qualify for the final as they finish second and fifth in qualification.

Para badminton, women’s singles SL3: Manasi Joshi is defeated by Oksana Kozyna of Ukraine who comes from a game down to saves three match points and defeat the Indian 10-21, 21-15, 23-21.

Hello and welcome to Scroll’s coverage of Day 1 of the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games

It was a solid opening day of Paralympic action for India with wins in badminton and good outings for the likes of Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar in compound archery.

The action continues in Paris on Day 2 as India has a chance to open their medal tally with a host of meals with the likes of Karamjyoti Dalal, Sakshi Kasana and Preethi Pal all featuring in the finals of their respective events in track and field.

Alongside them, the Indian para shooters also begin their campaign while Palak Kohli, Suhas Lalinakere Yathira and Nitesh Kumar all continue their individual campaign in para badminton.

Additionally, Indians will also be seen competing in cycling track and rowing.

Stay tuned for all the action coming your way on Day 2!

Screenshots in blog courtesy Jio Cinema and 2024 Paris Olympics website.