Pal wins silver TWICE!

Devendra Jhajhariarsquos slogan lsquoab ki baar bees parrsquo this time more than 20 came true on the final day of the World Para Athletics Championships WPAC here at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday but in the most dramatic circumstances that saw the womenrsquos 100m T35 final being rerun ldquoI have never seen this before in my liferdquo said Preeti Pal who won a silver in both the invalid and the valid raceIndia finished the WPAC with 22 medals including six gold It was an improvement from the 17 total medals India had won in the last edition in Kobe But in terms of gold medals the count stood at identical six On the goldmedal count India had finished sixth in Kobe but ended up 10th on the medals tally hereBesides Preetirsquos silver medal on the concluding day of the WPAC India won two more silver mdash Simran Sharma womenrsquos 200m T12 and Navdeep menrsquos javelin throw F41 The fourth medal was a bronze clinched by Sandeep in menrsquos 200m T44 eventIndiarsquos Preeti Pal during the 100m T35 final at the World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi on Sunday PICSPTIBefore the comedy of errors in Preetirsquos event there was an afterrace drama in Simranrsquos 200m race which saw the initial gold medallist from Venezuela Alejandra Lopez getting disqualified for ldquofailure to complying with Rule 710 pushing pulling slingshotting assistancerdquo as the runners run with a guide It resulted in Simranrsquos bronze getting upgraded to silverThe updated result saw Brazilrsquos Clara da Silva winning gold 2442sec and Chinarsquos Shen Yaqin bronze 2530sec It was Simranrsquos sixth race of the event She ran three to win the 100m T12 gold and then three more in the 200m event where she fell short of defending her title but still made a new Asian record with a timing of 2446secldquoIt was very difficult to maintain recoveryrdquo Simran who has a visual impairment and runs with her guide Umar Saifi said after her race ldquoThe competition for 200m T12 was a little hard and the body was a little exhausted I was crying in the cold room in the morning because I couldnrsquot even bend my backrdquo But the drama was reserved for the womenrsquos 100m T35 final that had to be rerun because of a startgun malfunction which was strangely discovered only after the race had finishedlsquoMotivation level was lowrsquoldquoI felt that I wonrsquot be able to finish on the podium nowrdquo said Preeti who finished second both times winning the silver with her seasonbest timing of 1433sec Gold went to Chinarsquos Guo Qianqian 1424sec and bronze to Iraqrsquos Fatimah Suwaed 1439secNavdeepldquoNow I am relieved but at that time my motivation level was very lowhellip All the runners were saying lsquoWe are very tiredrsquo I said lsquoWe are going home We are not doing itrsquo rdquo The mix of fear and relief in Preetirsquos voice was natural as all her four worldlevel medals before this had been bronze coming at the last Paralympics in Paris and the last WPAC in KobeBronze for Preeti earlierPreeti had won a bronze earlier in this WPAC in the 200m T35 event The two medals won each by Simran and Preeti made them the only two Indian athletes to finish on the podium twice in this edition In the other Indian participation on the last day Sandeep won a bronze medal in the menrsquos 200m T44 final with a personalbest timing of 2360sec Marco Cicchetti of Italy was crowned the champion 2300sec and Ukrainersquos Pavlo Kaplun won silver 2312secNavdeep finished the 2025 WPAC for India with a silvermedal effort in the menrsquos javelin throw F41 final with his season best of 4546m which he registered on his third attemptIranrsquos Sadegh Sayah 4886m won the gold and the bronze went to Chinarsquos Sun Pengxiang 4360m Brazil topped the medals tally on the goldmedal count with 15 gold 20 silver and nine bronze China finished in second place with 13 gold 22 silver and 17 bronzeIndiarsquos final Medal TallyGold 6Silver 9Bronze 7