India's Sakina Khatun finished fifth in the women's 50kg powerlifting final at the Tokyo Paralympics on Friday. Later in the day, Jaideep Kumar, India's other entrant in powerlifting, recorded failed attempts in all three of his lifts in the men's 65kg final.
Making her debut in the Paralympics, Khatun began with a lift of 90kg. She then failed in her second attempt of 93kg. On her third and final attempt, Khatun managed a 93kg lift for that to be her best attempt. Egypt's Rehab Ahmed created a Paralympic Record lift of 120kg on her second attempt, but was beaten to gold by China's Hu Dandan, who also lifted 120kg in her final attempt. Ahmed failed to lift 121kg in her final attempt, ensuring the Chinese woman won gold. Great Britain's Olivia Broome won bronze with a best lift of 107kg.
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In the men's 65kg final, Jaideep declared his first attempt at 160kg but could not pull it off successfully. He tried 160kg again but failed on the second attempt as well. He revised his third attempt from 162kg to 167kg in a bid to move up the table. If he had pulled it off, it would have taken him up to fourth place.
The daughter of a small-time farmer in West Bengal, Khatun overcame polio as a child, and was advised by her doctors to take up swimming to strengthen muscles during her recovery. She quit swimming after not being selected for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Khatun took up powerlifting the same year, after meeting Farman Basha, one of India's most renowned powerlifters. Basha had won silver at the Para Asian Games and participated in the 2012 Paralympics. Khatun won bronze in the 61kg category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, becoming the first Indian para powerlifter to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games, and a silver in the 50kg division at the 2018 Asian Para Games.
Jaideep, a former discus thrower, took up powerlifting in 2016 when he started it as a way to train himself for the discus throw, which he began learning in 2007. He qualified for and finished seventh in the World Para Powerlifting Championships in 2017. Jaideep's impairment is due to having been given a wrong vaccination for a fever at the age of four months, which led to a loss of strength in his left leg.
Both Khatun and Jaideep secured qualification to the Tokyo Games last month after the sport's governing body handed India bipartite quotas.