Oscar plays down medal chances

Oscar Pistorius yesterday played down his chances of defending his 100m Paralympic title, assessing that it could be the most open ufffd and fastest ufffd final in Paralympic history

The 25-year-old South African, a triple gold medallist in the T44 100m, 200m and 400m in Beijing, made history earlier this month by becoming the first double amputee to compete at the Olympics.

But Pistorius said he would be happy for a medal of any colour in the 100m this time round, with the final likely to involve world record holder Jonnie Peacock and world champion Jerome Singleton.

Pistorius said he had been “more than impressed” with Britain’s Peacock, who in June lowered the world record for single leg amputees to 10.85sec.

“He’s a huge threat. But my personal opinion is that experience counts,” he told a news conference at the Olympic Park.

“Guys like Jerome Singleton (of USA, whom Pistorius narrowly beat in Beijing) have run 11.1 in the last year. He (Singleton) is a true professional, a very serious guy. He doesn’t let competition get the better of him.”u00a0

10 Indians to battleu00a0for Paralympics gloryu00a0
India will be represented by 10 athletes at the 2012 Paralympic Games to be held in London from Aug 29 to Sep 9. Quota places have been allocated to India by the International Paralympics Committee (IPC). India have five quota places in athletics, three in powerlifting, and one each in swimming and shooting.u00a0

Athletics: HN Girisha (high jump), Jagseer Singh (long jump), Jaideep (discus), Narender (javelin), Amit Kumar; Powerlifting: Farman Basha, Rajinder Singh Rahelu, Sachin Chaudhary; Swimming: Sharath M Gayakwad; Shooting: Naresh Kumaru00a0

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