'Like Virat Kohli Taking A Wicket': India Star On Historic Asian Para Games Gold

Pranav Soorma likened the feat to star batter Virat Kohli taking a wicket in a rare bowling effort.© PCI | ICC

India's Pranav Soorma on Tuesday won gold in Asian Para Games with a continental record in his first major competition in discus throw and he likened the feat to star batter Virat Kohli taking a wicket in a rare bowling effort. Soorma clinched gold in combined F51/52/53 event with an Asian record while compatriot Ram Ratan Singh won silver in a 1-2 finish for India. "When we play cricket, a batsman sometimes bowls. Like Virat Kohli does batting very well. But after a long time, he bowls an over in which he gets (a batter) out," Soorma said after winning the gold.

The 32-year-old Soorma, who had won gold in the club throw F51 event in the previous Asian Para Games in China, sent his discus to a distance of 11.66m in his fourth attempt to take the top spot and set a new Asian record. Singh, 31, produced a throw of 10.35m in his second attempt to win the silver.

"It's a new event for me. I am competing in this event (discus) for the first time in such a big event. I am very happy to do my personal best and break the Asian record.

"My pet event is club throw, this (discus) is my second event. This time I am participating in both the events, discus throw and club throw," said Soorma.

Asked how difficult was it to adapt from club throw to discus throw, he said, "Club throw and discus throw are technically very different games. We have to apply glue to the club, we stick it with our fingers.

"But in discus, we apply it on the whole hand. So technically, applying glue and sticking it properly and releasing it, that is a very technical aspect."

Since it was a new event for him, Soorma said he did a lot of practice and hard work over the past one year.

Both Soorma and Singh are F51 athletes.

Iran's Alireza Hemami, a F53 athlete, took the bronze with his fourth round throw of 20.20m.

Though Hemami recorded a longer distance, he was placed below Soorma and Singh on the basis of Raza Point System used for deciding the placings of athletes of different classifications who competed in a combined event.

The system converts an athlete's performance into a standardised point score after making classification adjustments. Athletes with a higher or more severe degree of impairment may rank higher in a combined event even with a shorter distance or lower time as their scores are weighted relative to their classification.

The F51 classification is for athletes with a high degree of movement limitation in the trunk, legs and hands, alongside a low-to-moderate degree of affected arm movement.

Athletes having near similar classifications can be clubbed together if there are not enough competitors in a particular event.

The F51-F57 group covers athletes who compete in a seated position and who have lower body impairments, limb deficiencies, impaired muscle power, impaired range of movement, or leg length differences.

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