THE FIFTH DAY of the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships, at London’s Olympic Stadium. India had a couple of creditable performances at the end of the day, but not medals to show for it. In the Men's Shot Put F46 Final, Mohammed Yasser recorded a distance of 13.36 meters – his personal best, which saw him finish seventh. Day One’s gold winner Sundar Singh Gurjar finished eleventh in the same event.
In the Men's Javelin Throw F44 Final, as many as three Indians were in the fray. Sandeep was the best of the lot, finishing fifth with a throw of 53.04 meters, while Narender Ranbir and RT Prasanna Kumar finished eighth and ninth. All were eclipsed by a world record performance from Trinidad and Tobago’s Akeem Stewart, who threw his javelin a distance of 57.61 meters for gold.
In the Women's 400m T20 Final, USA’s Breanna Clark won easily, beating her closest rival by a margin of 3.23 seconds, and running her race in a world record time of 56.33 seconds.
And there was yet another world record in the Men's High Jump T13 Final. Twenty-four-year-old Isaac JeanPaul from the United States leapt a distance of 2.17 seconds to bag gold. Isaac’s win is all the more remarkable because the legally blind athlete only started competing in Paralympic sports earlier this year!
So on to Day 6 – a day where at least one Indian has a chance of a podium finish. Deepak Singh will compete in the Men's Javelin F37 event – and we wish him luck!