Preethi Pal continued in her trailblazing path with a bronze medal in the T-35 200m race on Sunday. She clocked a personal best of 30.01s to finish behind China's Zhou Xia (28.15s) and Gou Qianqian (29.09s). Qian had won this event (and the T-35 100m) at both Tokyo and Rio and is the defending, two-time world champion in both the 100m and 200m.
Preethi, meanwhile, continues on her steady rise in Indian sporting history. On Friday, she had become the first Indian para-athlete to win a track medal at the Paralympics, clocking a personal best of 14.21s to win bronze in the women's 100m T35, finishing behind the same two Chinese two athletes.
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After getting off to a decent start in the 200m, Preethi ate up ground on the bend to put fair distance behind her and fourth placed Suwaed Fatimah (who finished a second behind on 31.06s). It was a fast race, with those finishing second to fifth all running personal best times.
The T35 category is for para-athletes who have impairments in coordination. The 23-year-old Preethi, from Muzzarfarnagar, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at a young age. The condition affected her movements considerably but she dove into the world of para sport. Initially she trained at Meerut and then moved to New Delhi to train on a synthetic track.
This is India's sixth medal of the Games and comes as a boost for the contingent's hopes to better their record Tokyo tally of 19 after a medal-less Saturday.