Paralympics 2016 | Mariyappan Thangavelu wins India's first gold in Rio

09/10/2016

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Mariyappan Thangavelu has won the gold medal with a jump of 1.89 meters in the men's high jump T-42 event in Rio on Saturday. In what was a double jubilation for the nation, Varun Singh Bhati secured the bronze medal in the same event with his personal best jump of 1.86 meters.

Mariyappan Thangavelu succeeded in making the 1.89 meters jump in his second attempt to do so. He did try to lift the bar to 1.92 meters for his final attempt but was unsuccessful in completing it. However, 1.89 was enough to secure him the gold medal ahead of the USA's Sam Grewe, who won the silver despite making his personal best jump of 1.86 meters.

Mariyappan's compatriot Varun Singh Bhati secured the bronze medal for India with a jump of 1.86 meters, which was also his personal best. Sharad Kumar, another medal hopeful for India, finished at sixth with a jump of 1.77 meters despite being at the top for a while.

Meanwhile, Sandeep missed out on a medal by a whisker as he finished fourth in the men's javelin throw F42/43/44 final. His personal best throw of 54.30 was not enough as New Zealand's Rory McSweeney beat him to the bronze medal. Ranbir Narender finished sixth with a throw of 53.79, which was also his personal best.

In swimming, India's Suyash Jadhav failed to qualify from the heats in the men's 50m freestyle S7 event.