India’s visually impaired para-athlete Simran Singh shines at the Women’s 100m T12 sprint event at the World Para Athletics Championships 2025 on Friday. She performed her personal best of 11.95 s to clinch the gold medal in that category.
The win gave India its first-ever gold in the 100m event in para-athletics. India has made its tally to fifteen medals in the tournament.
The T12 category event is specifically for athletes with visual impairment. The 25-year-old sprinter was supported by her guide runner Umar Saifi and has now qualified for the semi-finals. Friday’s win was special, as Simran ran her first-ever sub-12s race in the tournament, that too in front of the home crowd held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
Expressing her excitement about the win, Simran said, “This is my home ground, and I practice here only. So, this is the best result that could have happened to me.”
In the semi-finals of the 100m event, Simran set her new personal best of 12.13s, but her 11.96s run in the finals got her a new record.
Simran is a defending champion of the 200m event, which she won last season in Japan. She will be looking for another win this year in order to become India’s first double world champion in a para-athletics track and field event.
Previously, during the 2024 Paris Paralympics finals, Simran, alongside her guide Abhay Singh, won the bronze medal in the women’s 200m T12 event with a personal best of 24.75s.
India secures four medals in one day
On Friday, Day 7 of the World Para Athletics Championships 2025, Indian athletes produced some of the strongest and most brilliant performances on the world stage, with four medals, including two golds, won across several categories.
· Simran Singh bags India’s first-ever gold medal in the Women’s 100m T12 event with her personal best timing of 11.95s.
· Men’s high jump T4 event saw Nishad Kumar with a gold medal finish after setting a new record made by an Asian athlete with a leap of 2.14 meters. The athlete earlier won four silver medals in top events, including two in the World Championships and the Paralympic Games, respectively.
· Preethi Pal, the 25-year-old runner, gave an impressive performance in the women’s 200m T35, finishing with a bronze medal.
· In the men’s discus F64 event, Pardeep Kumar secured a bronze with a best throw of 46.23 m. Pradeep is an army veteran and a mine blast survivor.
Special mention—Sachin Khilari, a two-time defending champion, narrowly missed the mark after finishing fourth in the men’s shot put F46 event.
Input Sourced from The Bridge
