Paris Paralympics: Indian canoe sprinters qualify for semifinals

India's Prachi Yadav and Yash Kumar qualified for the semifinals of women's VL2 200m and men's KL1 200m after finishing fourth and sixth in their respective heats at the Paris Paralympics here on Friday. While Prachi and Pooja Ojha clocked 1:06.83 and 1:16.09 in women's va'a single 200m VL2 heat 1 and KL1 200m heat 2 respectively, Yash came up with a timing of 1:03.27 in men's KL 200m heat.

The semi-finals will take place on Saturday.

Winner of each heat qualify directly to the final, while the remainder goes to the semifinals. The three fastest athlete of each semifinal make it to the final.


In Tokyo Games, Prachi had finished eighth in the final of the Women's VL2 event.

KL1 classification is for athletes with no or extremely limited trunk function and no function in the legs, while VL2 is for those with partial leg and trunk function, able to sit up straight in the kayak but may require a high-backed seat.