Sachin Khilari broke his own Asian record with a throw of 16.32m but still had to be content with silver as he finished second in the men's shot put F46 final on Wednesday at the Paris Paralympics. (Full Paralympics Coverage | More Sports News)
Khilari rewrote his own Asian record of 16.30m in his second attempt in Paris. That remained the 34-year-old world champion's best of the day and he had to settle with silver.
Two other Indians in fray, Mohammed Yasser (14.21m) and Rohit Kumar (14.10m), finished eighth and ninth respectively. Canada's Greg Stewart won the final with a season's best throw of 16.38m while Luka Bakovic of Croatia gave his personal best of 16.27m to get bronze.
The gold medalist at the Stade de France on Wednesday, Stewart, had finished behind Khilari at the world championships that took place earlier this year. However, the Canadian managed to turn things around in the Paralympics final. He led the field from the beginning and kept on increasing the distance as the competition went on.
Khilari said he could have done better to beat Stewart.
"I had wanted to win the gold medal, but it did not happen. It's my best distance but I am not satisfied. I feel I could have done better. It was not my day," Khilari said after his second-place finish.
"It was a tough competition and Greg Stewart is a great player. I made small mistakes in my technique. I will work harder and I hope to beat him next time."
F46 classification is for athletes with arm deficiency, impaired muscle power or impaired passive range of movement in arms, with athletes competing in a standing position.
Khilari hails from a farming family of Karagani village in Maharashtra's Sangli district. He met with an accident during his school days leading to an impaired left hand.
With Khilari's silver, India's total number of medals at the Paris Paralympics rise up to 21, two more than Tokyo's tally of 19.
