Paris Paralympics: Prachi Yadav enters canoe sprint final, Yash Kumar misses out

Paris: Indian canoe sprinter Prachi Yadav finished third in her semifinal to qualify for the women’s VL2 200m of the Paralympics here on Saturday.

Competing in the semi-final 2, the 29-year-old clocked 1:05.66 to finish behind second-placed Irodakhon Rustamova of Uzbekistan (1:04.39) and Jeanette Chippington of Great Britain (1:02.65).

On Friday, she had a fourth place finish in the heats to make the semi-finals. The top-placed canoe sprinter directly enters the final.

Prachi had finished eighth in the Tokyo Paralympics final of the women’s VL2 event.

India’s only male canoe sprinter, Yash Kumar’s campaign ended after finishing fifth (1:02.03) in the semi-finals of the men’s KL1 200m.

Only the top three in the semi-finals qualify for the final. On Friday, he had finished sixth in the heats.

India’s another canoe sprinter Pooja Ojha will be competing in the women’s KL1 200m semi-finals on Sunday.

The VL2 classification is for para-athletes with partial leg and trunk function who can sit up straight in the kayak but may require a high-backed seat.