President Kovind, Vice President Naidu praise Manish Narwal for clinching gold medal

President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday praised shooter Manish Narwal for clinching a gold medal in the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics.

The President said that Narwal has made the country proud by winning a gold medal and making the tri-color fly high at the Tokyo Paralympics.

"Young Manish Narwal has done India proud by winning a shooting gold medal and making the tricolor fly high at the #Paralympics! You've shown immense talent and dedication at a very young age. Heartiest congratulations! May you win many laurels in the future," tweeted the President.

The Vice President also lauded the victory of Narwal and said the entire country is proud of you and elated at your win.

"Our Paralympians continue to bring glory to the nation! Heartiest congratulations to Manoj Narwal for winning Gold medal and Singhraj for bagging Silver medal in the Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 event at Tokyo #Paralympics 2020. The entire country is proud of you and elated at your win," tweeted the Vice President.

Indian shooters Manish Narwal and Singhraj Adhana clinched the gold and silver medal in the P4 - Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 final here at Asaka Shooting Range on Saturday.

The 19-year-old Manish created the Paralympic record as he amassed 218.2 points to clinch the yellow metal while Singhraj grabbed his second medal of the Tokyo Paralympics with 216.7 points. The Russian Paralympic Committee's (RPC) Sergey Malyshev won the bronze medal.

Singhraj Adhana started better of the two Indians in the final as he was placed in the lead at the table after the first 10 shots while amassing 92.1 points. Manish who finished seventh in the qualification, had a very jittery start to the final as he gathered 87.2 in the 1st competition stage.

Singhraj and Manish then stepped up when it mattered the most as both shooters held their nerves against the early charge of the Chinese pair in the elimination stage. Manish then dramatically dropped to the 4th position after the 18th shot. But in his 19th and 20th shot, the 19-year-old Indian aimed a sensational 10.8 and 10.5 to grab the first place from Singhraj.

With a fight against the compatriot for a first-place finish, Manish finished with an 8.4 and 9.1 meanwhile Singhraj aimed 8.5 and 9.4 in his last two shots.

Earlier in the qualification, Manish amassed 533-7x points while Singhraj scored 536-4x points after the end of six series. The Indian duo reached the finals of the Tokyo Paralympics after a good show in the qualification event. Singhraj finished at the fourth position while Manish occupied the seventh spot.

( With inputs from ANI )