Nagaland’s Hokato Hotozhe Sema added one other medal to India’s Paralympics tally when he snapped up bronze within the the shot put F47 occasion late Friday evening. The current success took the nation’s whole medal tally to 27.
This was the 40-year-old’s debut on the Paralympics and got here into the Males’s Shot Put – F57 Last with a Private Better of 14.49m. He was sixth within the order of the athletes to throw. As it is a seated throw occasion, the place athletes must be harnessed to a throwing chair, all six makes an attempt can be taken collectively in a single go. The highest two spots had been all however determined early on. Yasin Khosravi and Thiago Paulino dos Santos throwing 15.96m (Paralympics File) and 15.06m respectively. Khosravi and dos Santos had completed 1-2 on the World Championships in Could earlier this 12 months, so this was at all times on the playing cards.
The battle was doubtless going to be between Finland’s Teijo Koopikka and Sema. On the World Championships Koopikka had taken bronze with 14.74, whereas Sema had completed fourth with 13.97. However as soon as the Finnish athlete was achieved together with his six throws with a better of 14.18, Sema – going after him – knew he had the bronze in his sights. He moved into third place with 14.40 off his third throw, after which upgraded it to a brand new Private Better of 14.65m to all however seal the third spot.
Sema is the second of the 4 kids in a farmer’s household. When he was younger, Sema dreamt of becoming a member of the elite Particular Forces (SF) to serve the motherland and displayed the very best ranges of bodily health and psychological robustness.
Nevertheless, on October 14, 2002, his desires had been shattered when throughout a Counter Infiltration Operation, he turned a casualty of mine blast and misplaced his left leg under the knee. He then took up Shot put at age of 32 whereas serving within the military.
Along with the bronze within the Paralympics, Sema additionally gained a bronze medal within the Asian Para Video games 2022 and a silver medal within the Morocco Grand Prix in 2022. Extra not too long ago, he completed 4th within the 2024 World Championship.