India's Hokato Hotozhe Sema won bronze in the men's F57 shotput with a sensational throw of 14.65m that considerably bettered his previous personal best. With the pressure on him, Hokato was able to bring out his very best to seal the medal.
Compatriot Soman Rana finished fifth, while gold was taken by an imperious Yasin Khosravi of Iran and silver went to Brazil's Thiago dos Santos.
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It was a competition that started with a real statement of intent. In one of the great showings at this, or indeed any Paralympic Games, Khosravi came and with each of his six throws hurled the shot put farther than the previous Paralympics Record. Have a look at his sequence: 15.26m, 15.87m, 15.94m, 15.96m, 15.57m, 15.94m. The worst of his throws was still 0.20m more than the silver winning throw.
With the gold already sewn up and dos Santos' 15.06m looking pretty far away, the real battle was on for bronze. Soman went first but a poor series of throws, well below his best, saw him hit a best of only 14.07m. That was beaten on his first attempt by Finland's Teijo Koopikka who hit 14.18m (his best on the evening also).
Hokato followed the two immediately and while his start was slow, built up steam by mid-way, throwing 14.40m to overtake Koopikka before unfurling his best ever throw, hitting 14.65m... a distance that proved too far for any of the athletes that came after him.
The F57 is a classification for those that participate in a seated position, and that tells you just how tough the event can be. Where shot put throwers generally generate momentum by spinning and stepping fast, powering themselves from the ground up, this seated position demands that the athlete generate all that power from their upper body alone -- which they achieve by leaning back impossibly and using their mammoth shoulders and arms to throw the shot put great distances.
And throw it a great distance is exactly what Hokato did.
Nagaland's only Paralympian, Hokato is an Indian army soldier who lost his leg to a land mine blast during operations in 2002. This led to the amputation of his left leg, and that was a surgery that Hokato took quite a while to recover from. It was not just the immense physical recovery needed that took a toll, but the mental and psychological effect of going from the peak of human physical fitness to becoming an amputee.
He struggled to deal with this for years, and while still with the army in an administrative role, the Army's Para Sports Node came calling. After a fair bit of convincing, Hokato gave it a try and focused on shot put to maximise his immense upper body strength. That was eight years ago, and he's steadily risen through the para-sporting ranks since. With the competitive juices flowing the soldier then went on a mission of improvement. In 2023 he won his first big international medal, bronze at the Asian Games, before coming close to repeating the trick at the 2024 World Championships (where he finished fourth).
In Paris, though, there was no denying him. With Soman's disappointing series hanging as a cloud, he brushed aside the pressure of performing at the sport's biggest stage, and pulled out the very best he is capable of. His throw of 14.65m was exactly the kind of throw that Paralympians dream of achieving once the spotlight is on them and he will return home to India a Paralympic medalist on his debut attempt.