Paris Paralympics: Simran Sharma wins historic bronze in women’s 200m T12

Paris: India bagged another medal in para athletics at the Paralympics as Simran Sharma won a historic bronze medal in the women’s 200m T12 event with a personal best time of 24.75 seconds at the Stade de France Stadium here on Saturday.

The 24-year-old Simran had a slow start in the women’s 200m T12 final, but made up for it with a strong finish to finish third. This is India’s first medal in women’s 200m T12 category.

On the final day of competition at the Paralympic Games, Simran’s stunning run gave India its first medal at the Paralympic Games. Visually impaired Simran and her guide Abhay Singh bagged India’s 28th medal in Paris Paralympics and 16th in Para Athletics.

Simran finished fourth in the women’s 100m T12 category, narrowly missing out on a bronze medal.

Cuba’s Omara Durand Elias completed a grand sprint double by adding to the women’s 200m T12 gold she won in the 100m T12 race a few days earlier. She won the gold medal with a season’s best time of 23.62. This is the third gold in Paris for Omara Durand-Elias in the women’s 400m T12 category as well.

Alejandra Paola Perez Lopez of Venezuela won the silver medal in the women’s 200m T12 with a personal best timing of 24.19 seconds.

Simran, 24, is a second-time Paralympian and gold medalist at the World Para-Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan earlier this year. The New Delhi-based sprinter finished 11th in the women’s 100m T13 category at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

Simran was born prematurely and then spent 10 weeks in an incubator where she was diagnosed with visual impairment. Trained by her husband Gajendra Singh, who serves in the Army Service Corps, she trains at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi. She has come a long way from being mocked for her visual impairment to winning gold at the recent World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe and now the Paralympics final. She finished 11th in the 100m – T13 at the 2021 Tokyo Para Games with a timing of 12.69.

Simran’s hard work and resilience helped her overcome physical and socio-economic challenges as she clinched the T12 200m gold in style at the World Championships in Japan in June. From 2022, Simran National Championship and Indian Open will be held in 100m and 200m. She also won two silver medals in the Asian Para Games held in Hangzhou last year.