India’s hopes of winning a medal from another sport were sky high after Deepa Malik bagged the country’s third medal at the Rio Paralympic Games as she became the first ever Indian woman to win a medal at the Games. However, the world number one in the F57 category of javelin throw event, India’s Virender, was also involved in the final of the Men’s Javelin Throw F56/57 categories but could not come up with the goods to land a medal as he finished 9th in the event which was held at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
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The event consisted of both the categories of F56 as well as F57 which saw a total of 14 athletes competing against each other to earn a podium finish. The event saw Benin‘s Cosme Akpovi start off the proceedings with a best of 27.37 in his first three attempts. It was followed by a best of 32.31 throw by China’s Guoshan Wu. However, India’s Virender proved his mettle as he outscored the two with his best of 35.73 as his best score of the first three attempts.
The Indian was followed by Egypt’s world number 5, Mahmoud Ramadan El Attar, who surpassed expectations to take the top spot with his score of 38.94 as his best from the first three attempts. However, his delight was soon cut short by Senegal’s world number 4, Youssoupha Diouf, who obtained a best of 41.83 in his first three attempts. With 9 athletes still left to compete in the event, India’s Virender had already slipped to the bronze medal position and needed to perform exceedingly well if he had to win any medal at Rio 2016.
Seychelles’ Cyril Charles ended up scoring the lowest points with 16.97 in his first three attempts which was followed by an impressive score of 43.77 by Iran’s Abdollah Heidari Til who took the top honours as Virender slipped to fourth in the rankings. It was Thailand’s Sakchai Yimbanchang’s turn to get to the third spot as he scored 40.47. It was time for the world record holder, Syria’s Mohammad Mohamad to take to the stage as he scored 32.72 from his initial three attempts.
It was Irain’s Mohammad Khalvandu as wee be compeitng as a youngsgter wtih a score of 45.63 which saw the Iranian create a world record. As athletes began throwing their full quota of six attempts, it was Heidari Til and Diouf who improved on their first three attempts by doing well in their latter three attempts. Whereas, Khalvandu broke his own world record yet again as he improved his score, standing first with a new score of 46.12 in his six total attempts as he assured himself of a gold medal.
On the other hand, Virender could not have a chance of striking his last three attempts as he finished the event at the 9th spot with a distance of 35.73 to his name. Here is the list of the medal winners from the event:
GOLD MEDAL: Mohammad Khalvandu (Iran) – 46.12
SILVER MEDAL: Abdollah Heidari Til (Iran) – 43.77
BRONZE MEDAL: Ngoc Hung Cao (Vietnam) – 43.27
