Hangzhou (PTI): Reigning Paralympics champion Sumit Antil on Wednesday clinched a gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games javelin throw F64 event with a world record effort of 73.29m on the third day of competitions.

The 25-year-old broke his own previous world record of 70.83m which he had thrown while winning gold at the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris earlier this year. Another Indian, Pushpendra Singh won the bronze medal with a throw of 62.06m.

Antil had won gold in the men's javelin F64 event at the Tokyo Paralympic Games with a then world record throw of 68.55m.

It was the most productive day for India, picking up a whopping 24 medals, with 17 of them and all the six gold coming from athletics.

India's total medals stood at 58 (15 gold, 20 silver and 23
bronze).

Ankur Dhama became the first Indian to win two gold medals in a single edition of the Asian Para Games as he clinched the top spot in men's T11 1500m race with a time of 4:27.70. He had also won a gold in men's men's T11 5000m race on Tuesday.

Another Indian Sundar Singh Gurjar also set a new world record in the men's F46 javelin throw as he sent his spear to a distance of 68.60m en route to winning the gold. The earlier world record of 67.79m was in the name of Dinesh Mudiyanselage Herath of Sri Lanka.

In fact, Indians swept all the three medals in the men's F46 javelin throw event with Rinku (67.08m) and Ajeet Singh (63.52m) winning silver and bronze respectively.

It was 1-2 for the Indians in the women's T11 1500m event with Rakshitha Raju (5:21.45) and Killaka Lalitha (5:48.85) taking gold and silver respectively. Rakshitha had won a gold in the same event in the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta.

Haney and Nimisha Suresh Chakkungalparambil added gold medals in men's F37/38 javelin throw and women's T47 long jump events.

Haney produced a Games record of 55.97m while Nimisha cleared 5.15m to take India's gold medal tally to 15.

Pooja won a silver in women's F54/55 discus throw of 18.17m while Narayan Thakur and Shreyansh Trivedi picked up a bronze each in men's T35 200m and T37 200m with times of 29.83 and 25.26 respectively.

Indians finished second and third in both the men's T13 1500m race and men's F47 shot put events.

Sharath Shankarappa Makanahalli (4:13.60) and Balwant Singh Rawat (4:20.58) clinched silver and bronze while Rana Soman (14.42) and Hokato Hotozhe Sema (13.94) finished second and third respectively.

In para table tennis, Tokyo Paralympics medallist Bhavina Patel won a bronze in women's singles Class 4 after she lost to Gu Xiaodan of China 1-3 (7-11 11-6 6-11 7-11) in the semifinal.

India won three medals in para archery -- two silver and a bronze. Armless archers Sheetal Devi and Sarita won a silver medal after losing 150-152 to the Chinese pair of Lin Yueshan and Zhang Lu.

The other silver was won by men's doubles compound pair of Rakesh Kumar and Suraj Singh after losing 150-155 to the Chinese duo of Ai Xinliang and He Zihao.

Harvinder Singh and Sahil won a bronze in men's doubles recurve event after beating the Thai pair of Hanreuchai Netsiri and Pornchai Phimthong 6-0. Harvinder had won a bronze medal in the Tokyo Paralympics and a gold in the 2018 Asian Para Games.

In para badminton, Pramod Bhagat and Manisha Ramdass settled for a bronze in mixed doubles SL3-SU5 after losing their semifinal match to the Indonesian pair of Leani Ratri Oktila and Hikmat Ramdani 19-21 14-21.

In para powerlifting, Zainab Khatun and Rajkumari won a siver and a bronze respectively in the women's 61kg category. Khatun lifted 85kg while Rajkumari had a successful effort of 84kg.

 

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, 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.