Indian athletes displayed brilliance at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships on Friday, Day 7, claiming four medals. 25-year-old Preethi Pal won the bronze medal in the women’s 200m T35 event with a season best of 30.03.
The T35 event is designated for para-athletes who suffer in coordination problems such as hypertonia, ataxia and athetosis.
In the women’s 200m T35 event, the gold medal was claimed by China’s Guo Qianqian with a season best of 29.50. Meanwhile, Egypt’s Fatimah Suwaed came second, taking the silver medal with a personal best time of 30.00.
The 12th season of the World Para Athletics Championships 2025 saw over 2000 athletes in participation, coming in from across 104 nations and competing in 186 events. Over 73 Indian athletes participated, including 54 men and 19 women.
On Friday, India added four more medals, two gold and two bronze, tallying its total to 15 medals in the tournament, including six gold, five silver and four bronze, which ends on October 5.
Visually impaired Simran Sharma claimed gold in the women’s 100m T12 event, while Nishad Kumar set a new Asian record after getting his maiden gold medal of the tournament in the men’s high jump T47. Pardeep Kumar bagged a bronze medal in the men’s discus throw F64.
Preethi’s 2024 Paris run
Preethi is the first woman para-athlete to win two Paralympic medals in track and field events at the Paris 2024 Paralympics tournament. She first claimed a bronze in the women’s 100m T35 event. Her prolific run continued in the women’s 200m T35 event, where she performed her personal best timing of 30.01s to claim another bronze medal.
Last year Preethi qualified in the finals of the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships held in Kobe, Japan. It was her maiden appearance in the tournament, where she won a bronze medal in the women’s 200m T35 event.
The para athlete, however, missed her chance for a medal at the 2024 Asian Para Games in China, after which she moved to New Delhi for training. The move played a major role in giving her the recognition as a double Paralympic medallist.
After achieving the remarkable feat, Preethi expressed her excitement and shared her feelings on the win.
“This is after five years of hard work but there have been people who have been taunting me and saying things that I won were because I was lucky,” she said.
She added, “Winning tonight proves to people that it is not by luck alone but because of hard work.”
