Preethi Pal, credited photo to SAI, created history in New Delhi by becoming the first Indian woman track and field athlete to claim two medals at the Paralympics. She secured the bronze medal in the 200m T35 category in Paris with a personal best time of 30.01 seconds on Sunday. This achievement marks her as the second Indian woman to achieve two medals in a single Paralympics, following shooter Avani Lekhara's gold and bronze in Tokyo. Preethi's bronze in the 200m T35 category adds another para-athletics medal to India's tally at the Paris Paralympics. She faced tough competition from China's Zhou Xia, who won gold with a time of 28.15 seconds, and Guo Qianqian, also from China, who took silver with a time of 29.09 seconds. Earlier, on Friday, Preethi secured India's first athletics medal in a Paralympics track event by winning bronze in the women's T35 100m event with a personal best time of 14.21 seconds. It is noteworthy that all of India's previous Paralympics athletics medals before this year were from field events. Deepa Malik, the former president of the Paralympic Committee of India, is the only other Indian woman track and field medallist in the Paralympics, having won silver in the shot put F53 category at the 2016 Rio Games. Born with coordination impairments and having her lower body plastered for six days post-birth, Preethi faced struggles such as weak legs and irregular leg posture. Despite traditional treatments and wearing calipers from age five to thirteen, her perspective changed at 17 after being inspired by the Paralympic Games on social media and interacting with Paralympic athlete Fatima Khatoon, who introduced her to para-athletics. With Khatoon's guidance, Preethi started competing in state and national championships from 2018 and eventually qualified for the Asian Para Games in China last year, where she finished fourth in the 100m and 200m sprints. To enhance her running skills, Preethi relocated to Delhi to train under coach Gajender Singh.Training led to her success in winning bronze medals at the World Para Athletics Championships in the 100m and 200m events. She received financial support through the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). In other news, India's Ravi Rongali achieved a personal best of 10.63m, finishing fifth in the men's F40 shot put final. The gold was won by Miguel Montero of Portugal with 11.21m, followed by Mongolia's Battulga Tsegmid with 11.09m for silver, and Garrah Tnaiash of Iraq with 11.03m for bronze. Denis Gnezdilov from Russia, a gold medallist in the Tokyo Paralympics, finished fourth with 10.80m as a Neutral Paralympic Athlete. In the women's 1500m T11 race, Rakshita Raju was eliminated in the initial round heats after finishing last in Heat 3 with a timing of 5:29.92s. The finalists were determined by the top two runners in each heat, with China's Shanshan He leading Rakshita's heat with a time of 4:44.66s, followed by Louzanne Coetzee of South Africa with a season-best time of 4:45.25s.