India’s star athlete Preethi Pal won the country’s first-ever medal in the 100m event at the Paralympics, securing bronze at the Paris 2024 Games on Friday, August 30. Preethi finished the women’s 100m T35 event with a personal-best time of 14.21 seconds, earning India its third medal at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games. Earlier, Avani Lekhara won gold and Mona Aragrwal clinched bronze in the shooting rifle 10m SH1 event.
Best performance in Paris Paralympics
The 24-year-old sprinter saved her best performance for the Paralympics, finishing third with a season-best time of 14.21 seconds. She finished behind the Chinese duo Xia Zhou and Qianqian, with Xia claiming gold with a time of 13.58 seconds and Qianqian winning silver with 13.74 seconds.
Missed medal in Hangzhou, wins it in Paris
Preethi, who trains de Delhi, secured a bronze medal at the World Para Athletics Championships 2024 in Kobe earlier this year, which gave her the ticket for the Paris Paralympics. She narrowly missed out on two medals at the Para Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023, but remained a strong contender for a medal in Paris.
