Historic heroes

Shooter Manish Narwal smashed a Games record while shuttler Pramod Bhagat yet again asserted his supremacy with his goldwinning performance as Indiarsquos tally swelled to 17 after a fourmedal show on a memorable penultimate day at the Tokyo Paralympics here on SaturdayNarwal 19 shot a total of 2182 a Paralympic record for gold in P4 Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 event while Bhagat humbled Great Britainrsquos Daniel Bethell in the menrsquos singles SL3 class final for a historic yellow metalManish NarwalIndia now have four gold seven silver and six bronze medals to be placed 26th India had won just four medals in the last edition in Rio while the total count from the 1972 edition when the country competed for the first time till these Tokyo Games was 12Sarkar wins bronzeBhagat claimed the historic gold in the menrsquos singles SL3 class by beating Great Britainrsquos Bethell 2114 2117 in the summit clashManoj Sarkar and Singhraj AdanaFellow shutter Manoj Sarkar bagged a bronze after defeating Japanrsquos Daisuke Fujihara in the third place playoff Sarkar 31 whose right leg was affected after he contracted polio when was one displayed resilience during his 2220 2113 win over FujiharaFor badminton hero Bhagat the mental game came to the fore on Saturday ldquoTechnique is not that important what is important is your brain You have to execute the right thing at the right time and that is the sportsman spirit champion spirit You have to use your brain and if you do you will definitely get successrdquo Bhagat told reporters in a virtual interactionHe chose the moment to pass on a tip to young sportspersons ldquoJust concentrate on hard work and donrsquot think about the result Keep focusing on your dream Even though I suffered a downfall in 2017 I picked myself up You will get a lot of hurdles in your journey you have to cross all those hurdles and one day you will become medallist an Olympic gold medallistrdquoSarkar meanwhile was determination personified ldquoMy target was to win this match at any cost because I knew I was playing in Japan and against a Japanese player There was pressure but the positive factor was that I knew my Japanese opponent and had beaten him many timesrdquo he said Badminton is making its debut at this yearrsquos ParalympicsTarun Dhillon too stayed in contention for a bronze after losing his semifinals while the duo of Bhagat and Palak Kohli will also feature in the thirdplace playoff in the mixed SL3SL5 classMore medals are in store for India on the final day Sunday with shuttlers Suhas Yathiraj and Krishna Nagar sailing into the menrsquos singles finals of SL4 class and SH6 class respectively In SL4 class Suhas outwitted Indonesiarsquos Fredy Setiawan 219 2115 in the first semifinal Krishna seeded two defeated Great Britainrsquos Krysten Coombs 2110 2111 in the SH6 class semisSilver for AdanaBack to shooting While Narwal smashed the Paralympic record to clinch Indiarsquos third gold at Tokyo compatriot Singhraj Adana bagged the silver to make it a sensational onetwo finish for the country Adana 39 created a piece of history as he joins the elite list of Indians who have won multiple medals in the same edition of the Games He won the bronze in the P1 menrsquos 10m air pistol SH1 eventAlso Read Rohitrsquos maiden overseas Test ton puts India in command17The No of medals 4 gold 7 silver 6 bronze India have won in the ongoing Tokyo ParalympicsWith input from PTI