Ravi Rongali finishes 5th in F40 shot put final, Rakshita Raju bows in 1500m T11 heats

India's Ravi Rongali finished a creditable fifth in men's F40 shot put final while Rakshita Raju bowed out in opening round heats of women's 1500m T11 race on third day of athletics competitions at Paris Paralympics on Sunday.

Rongali, who h won a silver in Asian Para Games last year in China, produced a personal best of 10.63m but that was eugh for a fifth-place finish in a top-class field.

World record holder Miguel Montero of Portugal won gold with a throw of 11.21m while Mongolia's Battulga Tsegmid (11.09m) took bronze.

Reigning Asian Para Games champion Garrah Tnaiash of Iraq took bronze with a throw of 11.03m while Russian Tokyo Paralympics gold medallist and reigning world para athletics champion Denis Gnezdilov, who was competing as Neutral Paralympic Athlete, was fourth with 10.80m.

F40 class is for para athletes with short stature.

Earlier in day, Rakshita, 23, finished last out of four runners in Heat 3 after clocking a timing of 5:29.92s.

two runners from three heats qualified for final.

China's Shanshan He topped Rakshita's heat with a timing of 4:44.66s ahe of Louzanne Coetzee of South Africa, who clocked season best timing of 4:45.25s.

T11 category is for athletes with visual impairment, which may be entire loss of vision or he or she may be able to perceive light, but have ability to see shape of a hand at any distance.

T11 athletes commonly run with guides.

On Friday, Preethi Pal h won India's first athletics medal in a Paralympics track event, clinching a bronze in women's T35 100m event with a personal best time of 14.21 seconds.

23-year-old Preethi, a farmer's daughter from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Presh, h come to Paris after winning a bronze in same event at World Para Athletics Championships in May.

T35 classification is meant for athletes who have coordination impairments such as hypertonia, ataxia and atosis.