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First Paralympic medal for India
Girisha Hosanagara Nagarajegowda gave India its first medal at the Paralympic Games after bagging a silver in the Men’s High Jump F42 event here.
The 24-year old from Karnataka, who has an impairment in his left leg, sailed over a height of 1.74m using scissors technique in the final of the event to finish second in the presence of an 80,000 capacity crowd last night.
Iliesa Delana of Fiji won the gold, while Lukasz Mamczarz of Poland settled for bronze.
Although Delana finished on the same height of 1.74m as Girisha and Mamczarz but won gold on the basis of taking less jumps.
Girisha, who is supported by Samarthanam, a Bangalore-based NGO for the disabled since 2008, took part in a three week long pre-Games training camp at Basildon Sporting Village sponsored by the Government of India.
Girisha is also only the third Indian after javelin thrower Bhimrao Kesarkar and shot put thrower Joginder Singh Bedi to claim silver at the Games. Kesarkar and Bedi won silver at the 1984 Paralympics.
Girisha’s silver brought some cheer to the small Indian contingent after the disappointing show by shooter Naresh Sharma and swimmer Sharath Gayakwad.
Rs 30 lakh for Girisha
Girisha will be honoured with `30 lakh cash award for winning a silver medal at the ongoing London Paralympics Games, Sports Minister Ajay Maken said on Tuesday.
Maken said all the medal winners at the Paralympics will be given the same amount of reward money, which was disbursed to the achievers at the Olympics Games. “Paralympic Medal Winners also to get cash awards of same amount as Olympics. `50 lacs Gold, 30 Silver & 20 Bronze. Nagaraj gets 30 lacs!,” Maken tweeted on Tuesday.
Freney’s fantastic 5
Australia's Jacqueline Freney won her fifth gold of the Games in the stand-out performance of the day, after a row involving sprinter Oscar Pistorius overshadowed the sporting action.
World record holder Freney, who has cerebral palsy, took gold in a new Paralympic best of 1min 9.39sec in the S7 100m freestyle to add to her titles in the S7 50m butterfly, S7 100m backstroke and SM7 200m individual medley.
Then with team-mates Ellie Cole, Madison Elliott and Katherine Downey, the 20-year-old added the women's 4x100m freestyle 34 points relay, making it a clean sweep for the Aussies after the men's team triumphed on Sunday.
In that race, Matthew Cowdrey bagged his 10th Paralympic title in a career spanning three Games, needing just one more gold to become his country's most successful Paralympian.
“It's absolutely incredible, I can't explain how happy I am,” said Freney afterwards. “I've got eight events and my main one hasn't even started yet, so these are just bonuses to me. Icing on the cake.”
Girisha Hosanagara Nagarajegowda gave India its first medal at the Paralympic Games after bagging a silver in the Men’s High Jump F42 event here.
The 24-year old from Karnataka, who has an impairment in his left leg, sailed over a height of 1.74m using scissors technique in the final of the event to finish second in the presence of an 80,000 capacity crowd last night.
Iliesa Delana of Fiji won the gold, while Lukasz Mamczarz of Poland settled for bronze.
Although Delana finished on the same height of 1.74m as Girisha and Mamczarz but won gold on the basis of taking less jumps.
Girisha, who is supported by Samarthanam, a Bangalore-based NGO for the disabled since 2008, took part in a three week long pre-Games training camp at Basildon Sporting Village sponsored by the Government of India.
Girisha is also only the third Indian after javelin thrower Bhimrao Kesarkar and shot put thrower Joginder Singh Bedi to claim silver at the Games. Kesarkar and Bedi won silver at the 1984 Paralympics.
Girisha’s silver brought some cheer to the small Indian contingent after the disappointing show by shooter Naresh Sharma and swimmer Sharath Gayakwad.
Rs 30 lakh for Girisha
Girisha will be honoured with `30 lakh cash award for winning a silver medal at the ongoing London Paralympics Games, Sports Minister Ajay Maken said on Tuesday.
Maken said all the medal winners at the Paralympics will be given the same amount of reward money, which was disbursed to the achievers at the Olympics Games. “Paralympic Medal Winners also to get cash awards of same amount as Olympics. `50 lacs Gold, 30 Silver & 20 Bronze. Nagaraj gets 30 lacs!,” Maken tweeted on Tuesday.
Freney’s fantastic 5
Australia's Jacqueline Freney won her fifth gold of the Games in the stand-out performance of the day, after a row involving sprinter Oscar Pistorius overshadowed the sporting action.
World record holder Freney, who has cerebral palsy, took gold in a new Paralympic best of 1min 9.39sec in the S7 100m freestyle to add to her titles in the S7 50m butterfly, S7 100m backstroke and SM7 200m individual medley.
Then with team-mates Ellie Cole, Madison Elliott and Katherine Downey, the 20-year-old added the women's 4x100m freestyle 34 points relay, making it a clean sweep for the Aussies after the men's team triumphed on Sunday.
In that race, Matthew Cowdrey bagged his 10th Paralympic title in a career spanning three Games, needing just one more gold to become his country's most successful Paralympian.
“It's absolutely incredible, I can't explain how happy I am,” said Freney afterwards. “I've got eight events and my main one hasn't even started yet, so these are just bonuses to me. Icing on the cake.”
