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.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Los Angeles county wildfires could be costliest in US history, early estimates say
Los Angeles, Jan 11: The wildfires that erupted this week across Los Angeles County are still raging, but already are projected to be among the costliest natural disasters in US history.
The devastating blazes have killed at least 11 people and incinerated more than 12,000 structures since Tuesday, laying waste to entire neighbourhoods once home to multimillion-dollar properties.
While it's still too early for an accurate tally of the financial toll, the losses so far likely make the wildfires the costliest ever in the US, according to various estimates.
A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between USD 135 billion and USD 150 billion. By comparison, AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic losses caused by Hurricane Helene, which tore across six southeastern states last fall, at USD 225 billion to USD 250 billion.
“This will be the costliest wildfire in California modern history and also very likely the costliest wildfire in US modern history, because of the fires occurring in the densely populated areas around Los Angeles with some of the highest-valued real estate in the country,” said Jonathan Porter, the private firm's chief meteorologist.
AccuWeather factors in a multitude of variables in its estimates, including damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure and vehicles, as well as immediate and long-term health care costs, lost wages and supply chain interruptions.
The insurance broker Aon PLC also said Friday that the LA County wildfires will likely end up being the costliest in US history, although it did not issue an estimate. Aon ranks a wildfire known as the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, in 2018 as the costliest in US history up to now at USD 12.5 billion, adjusted for inflation. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed about 11,000 homes.
The LA County wildfires, which were fuelled by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds and an extreme drought, remained largely uncontained Saturday. That means the final tally of losses from the blazes is likely to increase, perhaps substantially.
“To put this into perspective, the total damage and economic loss from this wildfire disaster could reach nearly 4 per cent of the annual GDP of the state of California,” AccuWeather's Porter said.
In a report Friday, Moody's also concluded that the wildfires would prove to be the costliest in US history, specifically because they have ripped through densely populated areas with higher-end properties.
While the state is no stranger to major wildfires, they have generally been concentrated in inland areas that are not densely populated. That's led to less destruction per acre, and in damage to less expensive homes, Moody's noted.
That's far from the case this time, with one of the largest conflagrations destroying thousands of properties across the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, home to many Hollywood stars and executives with multimillion-dollar properties. Already, numerous celebrities have lost homes to the fires.
“The scale and intensity of the blazes, combined with their geographic footprint, suggest a staggering price tag, both in terms of the human cost and the economic toll,” Moody's analysts wrote. The report did not include a preliminary cost estimate of the wildfire damage.
It could be several months before a concrete tally of the financial losses from the wildfires will be possible.
“We're in the very early stages of this disaster,” Porter said.
