India’s Pranav Soorma clinched a gold medal in the men’s discus throw combined F51/52/53 event with an Asian record, while compatriot Ram Ratan Singh won silver in the Asian Para Games here on Tuesday.
The 32-year-old Soorma, who had won gold in the club throw F51 event in the previous Asian Para Games in China, sent his discus to a distance of 11.66m in his fourth attempt to take the top spot and set a new Asian record. Singh, 31, produced a throw of 10.35m in his second attempt to win the silver. Both Soorma and Singh are F51 athletes.
Iran’s Alireza Hemami, a F53 athlete, took the bronze with his fourth round throw of 20.20m. Though Hemami recorded a longer distance, he was placed below Soorma and Singh on the basis of Raza Point System used for deciding the placings of athletes of different classifications who competed in a combined event. The system converts an athlete's performance into a standardised point score after making classification adjustments. Athletes with a higher or more severe degree of impairment may rank higher in a combined event even with a shorter distance or lower time as their scores are weighted relative to their classification.