Jakarta: Indian javelin thrower Sundar Singh Gurjar won a silver medal in the men's F46 category of the Asian Para Games where two-time Paralympic gold-medallist Devendra Jhajharia finished fourth on Thursday.
In the same event, Rinku picked up a bronze medal to make it an India-dominated podium. The F46 category of disability covers upper limb deficiency, impaired muscle power or impaired range of movement.
India also logged a bronze in the men's 400m T13 category with Avnil Kumar claiming the third position. The T13 classification deals with visual impairment.
In javelin throw, Gurjar notched up his silver with an effort of 61.33m in his fifth attempt. Gurjar trained for 22 days in Finland before the Games, an exercise that was backed by the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
Rinku recorded a personal best of 60.92m for the bronze, while the gold went to Sri Lanka's Dinesh Herath who smashed the Games as well as the Asian record with a throw of 61.84m.
However, it was a disappointment for Jhajharia, a silver-winner in the in the last Asian Para Games in Incheon.
The veteran Indian, a Khel Ratna awardee and the greatest Paralympian from India, produced his season's best throw of 59.17m but finished well outside the medal bracket.
In the men's 400m, Avnil Kumar clocked 52sec to fetch a bronze. The gold in this event was won by Iran's Omid Zarifsanayei, who took 51.41sec to complete the race, while Thailand's Songwut Lamsan.
Kumar lost the silver to Lamsan by a fraction of a second.
Courtesy: www.firstpost.com
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New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
