Sachin Khilari, making his Paralympic debut at the age of 34, won the silver medal in men's shot put F46 with a best throw of 16.32m taking India's Paris 2024 tally to 21.
The final was defined by his tussle with the defending champion Greg Stewart of Canada as both broke the 16m barrier multiple times in their six attempts. Ultimately, it was Stewart who won the gold medal after he improved his season's best twice and prevailed with a best throw of 16.38m. The bronze was taken by Luka Bakovic of Croatia with his personal best effort of 16.27m.
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Two other Indians lined up in the final along with Sachin. Rohit Kumar finished ninth with a best throw of 14.10m while Mohd Yasser came eighth with his best of 14.21m.
The field in the final was hugely competitive with world record holder Joshua Cinnamo of the USA and world championships bronze medallist Kervin Noemdo of South Africa in the mix along with Sachin and Stewart.
Sachin was a big favourite for the gold medal as he was the reigning world champion. In fact he won the Worlds gold twice in 2023 and 2024. He was also the gold medallist from the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou.
The Indian began the final on top, throwing an area record of 16.32m in his second attempt. This was indeed a medal winning throw early on but others still had many opportunities to go past him. In his third attempt, Stewart came up with 16.34 effort which propelled him to top.
Once Stewart went on top, there was no looking back for him. Sachin came up with three back-to-back 16m-plus throws but not enough to take the lead. Meanwhile, Stewart improved further with a 16.38 throw in his fourth attempt which more or less sealed the deal.
Croatia's Bakovic, who was not able to par 16m in his first four throws, came up with a huge 16.27m effort in his fifth attempt to win the bronze medal. Cinnamo finished fourth with a best of 15.66m.
Sachin, who's from the Sangli district from Maharashtra, has restricted movement on his left hand. A bicycle fall at the age of 9 fractured the arm and later gangrene affected mobility.
He first took up javelin during his college days and later won gold medals in the national events. In 2019, he suffered a shoulder injury which ultimately resulted in him giving up javelin. He opted to compete in shot put after a conversation with coach Satya Narayana. Under his current coach Arvind Chavan, Sachin went on to break records in shot put which culminated in his Paralympic medal on debut on Wednesday.