Para Asiad: India claim two golds in Jakarta

Jakarta: Para athletes added two gold medals to India’s kitty after chess players and a shuttler grabbed yellow metals as the country continued its impressive performance at the Asian Para Games where Paralympic medallist Deepa Malik bagged her second bronze on Friday.

K. Jennitha Anto clinched the gold in women’s individual rapid P1 chess event after beating Manurung Roslinda of Indonesia 1-0 in the final round, while Kishan Gangolli got the better of Majid Bagheri in the men’s individual rapid VI - B2/B3 event to claim the top spot.

Rapid P1 event is for physically impaired athletes while rapid VI - B2/B3 event features partially blind competitors.

In para-badminton, Parul Parmar notched up a 21-9 21-5 victory over Wandee Kamtam of Thailand to win the gold medal in the women’s singles SL3 event.

Athletes in this class have impairment in one or both lower limbs and poor walking/running balance but they play in standing positions.

“I work as a coach in the Gujarat’s Sports Authority of India. My target is Paralympics. I will play in the World Championships next,” Parmar said after winning the gold.

“So, I want support from my office and I need sponsors. When we go to play international tournaments we don’t have sponsors and we have to fund ourselves. I request the government to help us,” she added.

Later, para athletes further made it a memorable day for the Indians.

It was double delight for India in the men’s javelin throw F55 event as Neeraj Yadav and Amit Balyan clinched the gold and silver medals respectively.

While Neeraj's best effort was 29.24m, Amit threw the spear to 29.79 to win the silver. The bronze was bagged by Vietnam's Kieu Minh Trung.