The achievement marks her because the second Indian lady to win two medals in a single Paralympics, after shooter Avani Lekhara’s gold and bronze in Tokyo.
Preethi’s bronze medal within the 200m T35 provides to India’s second para-athletics medal on the Paris Paralympics.
She competed in opposition to world document holder and Tokyo Paralympics champion Zhou Xia of China, who gained the gold with 28.15 seconds, and Guo Qianqian, additionally from China, who took silver with a time of 29.09 seconds.
On Friday, Preethi clinched India’s first athletics medal in a Paralympics monitor occasion, successful bronze within the ladies’s T35 100m competitors with a private greatest time of 14.21 seconds.
Notably, all of India’s earlier Paralympics athletics medals earlier than this 12 months had come from subject occasions.
Former Paralympic Committee of India president Deepa Malik is the one different Indian lady monitor and subject medallist in Paralympics, having gained silver in shot put F53 class within the 2016 Rio Video games.
Born with coordination impairments, her decrease physique was plastered for six days post-birth, resulting in weak legs and irregular leg posture. Conventional remedies and carrying calipers from age 5 to 13 had been a part of her early struggles.
Her perspective shifted at age 17, impressed by the Paralympic Video games on social media, and a life-changing encounter with Paralympic athlete Fatima Khatoon, who launched her to para-athletics.
With Khatoon’s assist, Preethi started competing in state and nationwide championships from 2018, qualifying for the Asian Para Video games in China final 12 months the place she completed fourth within the 100m and 200m sprints.
To fine-tune her operating methods, Preethi moved to Delhi to coach below coach Gajender Singh. The coaching culminated in her successful bronze medals within the 100m and 200m on the World Para Athletics Championships. She benefited from the Goal Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) for monetary help.
Earlier on Sunday, India’s Ravi Rongali completed fifth within the males’s F40 shot put ultimate, attaining a private better of 10.63m.
World document holder Miguel Montero of Portugal gained gold with 11.21m, whereas Mongolia’s Battulga Tsegmid took silver with 11.09m, and Garrah Tnaiash of Iraq gained bronze with 11.03m. Russian Tokyo Paralympics gold medallist Denis Gnezdilov, competing as Impartial Paralympic Athlete, positioned fourth with 10.80m.
Rakshita Raju, competing within the ladies’s 1500m T11 race, was eradicated within the opening spherical heats, ending final out of 4 runners in Warmth three with a time of 5:29.92s. The 2 runners from every of the three heats certified for the ultimate, with China’s Shanshan He main Rakshita’s warmth with a time of 4:44.66s, adopted by Louzanne Coetzee of South Africa with a season-best timing of 4:45.25s.
