India looking for another record medal haul in Hangzhou, this time in Para Asian Games
Hangzhou (PTI): Tokyo Paralympics gold medallists Avani Lekhara and Sumit Antil will be leading India's biggest-ever contingent as the country aims for a record medal haul in the Para Asian Games, which commence here on Sunday, a fortnight after the able-bodied athletes achieved historic success at the same venue.
Star shooter Avani, who won a gold and a bronze medal in Tokyo Paralympics, and javelin thrower Antil, who also clinched a yellow metal in the Japanese capital in 2021, will be among a host of Indian medal contenders in the continental showpiece, which will continue till October 28.
Another para shooter Manish Narwal as well as shuttlers Pramod Bhagat and Krishna Nagar, who all won gold in the Tokyo Paralympics, will be among the 313 Indian athletes at the Hangzhou Para Asian Games, the most in any edition.
India is participating in 17 out of the 22 sports in the Hangzhou Para Asian Games. The country is fielding athletes for the first time in rowing, canoeing, lawn bowl, taekwondo and blind football.
Nearly 4,000 athletes from 43 countries will be competing across 22 sports in 566 gold-medal events in the Para Games.
The Para Asian Games were originally scheduled to take place from October 9-15, 2022 but were postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
China, who have topped the medals table by an overwhelming margin in every edition so far, are fielding 439 athletes. The host country won a whopping 319 medals (172 gold, 88 silver, 59 bronze) in the 2018 edition.
The first Para Asian Games was held in 2010 in Guangzhou, China, where India had finished 15th with 14 medals, including one gold.
In the 2014 and 2018 editions, India had finished 15th and ninth respectively, and this time, the country would be looking to move up the medals table, taking inspirations from the unprecedented success achieved by their able-bodied counterparts.
With 51 of the 54 athletes who took part in the Tokyo Paralympics competing in Hangzhou, India is hoping for its best-ever medal haul here. India won 72 medals (15 gold, 24 silver, 33 bronze) in 2018 Para Asian Games, the best so far.
Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), the governing body of the sport in the country, is expecting to touch the 100-medal mark, which, if achieved, will emulate the historic success in the Hangzhou Asian Games of the able-bodied athletes, where India won a record 107 medals.
"It will be a record this time also. We are hoping for 100 medals," PCI secretary general Gursharan Singh told PTI.
The high expectations stem from the fact that India can win more medals in sports like shooting and archery -- which did not yield too many medals in 2018 -- while also increasing the contribution in athletics, badminton and chess.
The last time around, athletics contributed 36 medals (7 gold, 13 silver, 16 bronze) -- exactly half of India's total count. This time, the PCI is hoping at least 45 medals in athletics.
The Indian athletics team will be led by Antil, the reigning Olympic and world champion in javelin throw F64 category. The 25-year-old is also the world record holder with his 70.83m throw while winning gold in the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris.
Sandeep Chaudhary is defending his javelin throw F44 title he had won in 2018 in Jakarta. In javelin throw F46 category, India will have reigning world champion Ajeet Singh and Sunder Singh Gurjar who had won a bronze in the Tokyo Paralympics and silver in the 2018 Para Asian Games.
Gurjar had also won a bronze in the discus throw F46 event in 2018.
In the 2018 edition, India had won just three medals, including a gold, in shooting and Avani was not there in Jakarta. With Avani in tow this time, India can increase the number of medals from shooting.
In the Tokyo Paralympics, Avani had won 10m air rifle gold and 50m rifle 3 positions bronze in SH1 category.
In pistol events also, India will be looking for a rich haul after the impressive show from their youngsters at the 2023 Lima World Championships.
While Tokyo Paralympics champion Manish Narwal returned to winning ways with his first Worlds title in P1 10m air pistol in SH1 category, 16-year-old Rudransh Khandelwal won gold in the P4 mixed 50m pistol SH1 category.
Another Indian athlete to look out for is table tennis player Bhavinaben Patel who had clinched silver at the Tokyo Paralympics. She won silver in the 2018 Para Asian Games and would be looking to convert it into gold this time around.
Bhavinaben will have her group match on Sunday. Apart from the opening ceremony and table tennis preliminary round matches, there is no competition on Sunday.
In para sports, athletes are classified according to the degree of activity limitation resulting from the impairment. Classification determines which athletes are eligible to compete in a particular event. This is done to ensure fair competition.
North Korea has withdrawn from the Hangzhou Games after the Asian Paralympic Committee refused to allow it to use their national symbols following sanctions by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for non-compliance with anti-doping regulations.
This is in contrast to the able-bodied Asian Games (September 23-October 8) where North Korea was allowed to use its symbols by the Olympic Council of Asia in spite of the WADA sanctions.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
