Tokyo: Prachi Yadav of India qualified for the semifinals of the women’s Va’a single 200m canoe sprint event at the Tokyo Paralympics on Thursday. The semifinal will take place on Friday. Yadav has already created history by becoming the first Indian to compete in canoeing at the Paralympics.
In class VL2 heat 1 at the Sea Forest Waterway, the 26-year-old from Bhopal clocked one minute, 11.098 seconds – 13.014 seconds behind leader Great Britain’s Emma Wiggs (58.084s). Yadav, who has paralysis below the waist, has also competed in national para-swimming competitions but took up canoeing on the advice of her coach, Virender Kumar.
Yadav stated before coming to Tokyo that she had finished her homework and that now it was time to take the exam in order to demonstrate that she had done ‘honest practice’ at home.
