Tokyo Paralympics: Aruna Tanwar withdraws from repechage round due to suspected fracture

Indian athlete  Aruna Tanwar was all set to compete in the Tokyo Paralympics 2020 repechage round in the Women's 49kg K44 taekwondo against Azerbaijan's Royala Fataliyeva on Thursday after she had lost her quarterfinal bout to Peru's Leonor Espinoza Carranza. However, she would be taking no further part as an injury has ruled her out of the tournament.

Tokyo Paralympics 2020: Aruna Tanwar withdraws from Paralympics repechage round

Aruna Tanwar was forced to withdraw from the repechage round of the ongoing  Paralympic Games because of severe injuries sustained during her opening bout of the competition. However, Aruna braved her injuries and even fought in the quarterfinals where she lost to Carranza after which she was scheduled to face Fataliyeva repechage round. But, it turned out to be an anti-climax for the 12th seeded Indian as a possible hit on her right foot during her opening round 29-9 win over fifth seed Danijela Jovanovic of Serbia drew curtains to her campaign.

All losing quarterfinalists from the main draw make the repechage where a player has to win three bouts to clinch the bronze medal. Sadly, Aruna Tanwar will have to wait another day to realise her dreams of standing on the podium with a Paralympic medal. The news of Aruna Tanwar's unavailability was officially confirmed by the  Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) President on her official Twitter handle. 

"Sorry to inform that our Tigress@ArunaTanwar1 has got injured in her bout. Suspected hair line fracture. She won her first match with a great margin but we could notice the energy missing in second one.swelling has increased n needs medical attention", Deepa Malik's tweet read.

The PCI Chief as well as the 2016 Rio Paralympics silver medalist concluded by tagging the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur.

 What made Aruna Tanwar withdraw from the Tokyo Paralympics 2020?

The explanation given by the Indian delegation for Aruna's withdrawal from the repechage round was "probable fracture of the left forearm and possible fracture of the right foot." The withdrawal form also cited "severe pain and dysfunction due to the above injuries" as the reason behind her decision to not contest any further in the competition.

(With PTI Inputs)