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Hokato Sema, a landmine blast survivor, scripted history at the ongoing Paralympics 2024, clinching bronze for India in the men's F57 category final on Friday. From Dimapur in Nagaland, Sema is from the army and also bagged bronze at the Hangzhou Paralympics last year.
On Friday, he touched the 14m mark with his second throw, and then improved it with a 14.40m throw.
He was a havalder in the Indian Army, and lost his leg during an operation at the Line of Control in 2002, due to a landmine blast. After his accident, he began to play shot put.
Sema was motivated by a senior army official at the Pune-based Artificial Limb Centre to take up shot put. He took up the sport in 2016 at the age of 32 and began to compete in the National Para Championships in Jaipur in the same year.
At the ongoing Paralympics, India has registered 27 medals, consisting of 12 bronze, nine silver and six gold. Sema's effort on Friday also saw him break the previous Paralympic record of 13.49m, set by Azerbaijan's Olokhan Musayev. Meanwhile, Iran's Yasin Khosravi got gold with a throw of 15.96m, and Brazil's Thiago dos Santos won silver with a 15.06m throw.
He has also won a silver medal at the Morocco Grand Prix in 2022, and was fourth in the World Championships this year. In Paralympics, the F57 classification is for athletes in a seated position. It is tough to participate in shot put from this position, because throwers usually get momentum by spinning and stepping fast, which powers themselves from the ground up. But a seated position demands more power from the athlete's upper body alone. The Dimapur native’s bronze medal will be a huge laurel in his already glittering career and give him more motivation.
