Simran Sharma through to semifinals in women's 200m T12 event

Paris: Indian track and field athlete Simran Sharma topped her heat and entered the semifinals of the women's 200m T12 event at the Paris Paralympics here on Friday.

Simran, who is the reigning world champion, topped her heat with a timing of 25.41s to make the semi-finals.

As per rule, the winner of each heat qualify to final A. The three fastest runners in each semifinal qualify to Final A.

The T12 classification in the Paralympics is for athletes with visual impairments.

Simran was born prematurely and spent the next 10 weeks in an incubator where it was discovered that she is visually impaired.

Coached by her husband Gajendra Singh, who works for the Army Service Corps, she trains at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.

On Thursday, Simran missed out on a medal, finishing fourth in the Women's 100m—T12 final.

Simran clocked 12.31 seconds in the four-player final after being hampered by a slow start.