India has been greeted with some marvellous news on the fifth day of the Rio Paralympic Games as shot putter Deepa Malik bagged the silver medal in the women’s shot put F53 final event held at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. The 45-year old managed to strike a career-best width of 4.61 metres.
The Indian was scheduled to start the event against six other competitors who were looking to finish on the podium at the Games for their respective countries. The six athletes who were challenging Malik for the medals were – Brunei’s Fatema Nedham, Ukraine’s Svitlana Stetsyuk, Ireland’s Deirdre Mongan, Mexico’s Estela Salas, Greece’s Dimitra Korokida and Canada’s Pamela Lejean.
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However, the competition was reduced to five for Malik as Mexico’s world number six, Salas did not start the event. Hence, it was Deepa who started the event and she started it well as she threw the ball to a best distance of 4.49 metres in her first three attempts. The Indian was followed by Ireland’s Deirdre Mongan, who could only reach the best distance of 4.04 metres in her first three attempts.
Greece’s Korokida was the third female athlete to take to the stage as she obtained a best distance of 4.28 metres in her first three attempts. The fourth athlete to take her attempts was Canada’s number one ranked Pamela Lejean who could only get a width of 4.07 metres in her first three attempts. However, Bahrain’s Fatema Nedham came out with the best throw of them all. A 4.76 metres throw saw her take top spot in the competition, ahead of India’s Deepa Malik.
Deepa’s chances of winning a gold medal seemed great as the Indian went on to increase her lead by reaching a distance of 4.61 metres to cement her place at number two in the table after her six attempts. Chances of the Indian ending up with a medal increased as Ukraine’s Stetsyuk could only manage a best distance of 3.48 metres in her allotted six attempts. After Morgan from Ireland could not manage to improve on her width of 4.04 metres after her six attempts, it looked like the nation would cheer for yet another medal from the Paralympic Games.
Three shot putters were left to complete their quota of three more attempts and it was the Greek and the Canadian who needed to perform exceedingly well if they wanted to displace Malik or even Nedham. The gold looked secure for the latter, while the Indian was holding onto her silver medal. The Greek, Korokida could also not improve on her width of 4.28 metres after all the six attempts and hence stood in the bronze medal position, with only the world number one shot putter, Pamela Lejean, left to take her final three attempts.
As it turned out, the Canadian could only get a width of 4.16 metres in her six attempts as she finished at the fourth spot. Deepa’s width of 4.61 metres has also become the Indian’s personal best ever feat at any competition and what better stage to do it at. Here is the list of the medal winners:
GOLD MEDAL: Fatema Nedham – 4.76m
SILVER MEDAL: Deepa Malik – 4.61m
BRONZE MEDAL: Dimitra Korokida – 4.28m
