Praveen Kumar received gold on the Paris Paralympics 2024© X (Twitter)
Tokyo silver medalist Praveen Kumar broke the Asian file to say the gold medal within the males’s excessive bounce T64 occasion on the Paris Paralympics 2024 on Friday. It was a surprising effort from the 21-year-old para-athlete as he produced a season finest bounce of two.08m within the last to complete forward of USA’s Derek Loccident (2.06m) and Uzbekistan’s Temurbek Giyazov (2.03m). This was India’s sixth gold medal on the Paris Paralympics – the best ever in a single version of the competitors. Earlier, India’s finest tally got here within the Tokyo Paralympics the place the contingent ended up successful 5 gold medals.
Opting to begin from 1.89m, Kumar aced seven jumps in his first try to put himself in pole place to seize the coveted gold medal.
The bar was then raised to 2.10m, with each Kumar and Loccident combating for the highest spot on the rostrum however did not clear the mark.
Praveen Kumar clinches gold at #Paris2024 together with his season’s finest bounce of two.08 m
Watch the #Paralympics LIVE on #JioCinema#ParalympicsOnJioCinema #JioCinemaSports #ParalympicsParis2024 #HighJump pic.twitter.com/k6zLWLU9XD
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This was additionally the 2023 world championship bronze medallist’s private finest efficiency.
T64 is for athletes with motion reasonably affected in a single decrease leg or the absence of 1 or each legs beneath the knee. Whereas T44, below which Praveen is categorised, is for athletes with motion affected at a low or average diploma in a single decrease leg.
His impairment, which is congenital, impacts the bones that join his hip to his left leg.
Kumar’s odyssey towards changing into a para-athlete was marked by appreciable trials. He typically grappled with profound emotions of inadequacy compared to his friends as a baby.
He began taking part in sports activities to counter these insecurities and located a ardour for volleyball.
His life modified when he took half in a excessive bounce occasion at an able-bodied athletics competitors.
This expertise uncovered him to the huge alternatives out there for athletes with disabilities, igniting a brand new and galvanizing trajectory in his journey.
He’s the third excessive jumper after Sharad Kumar and Mariyappan Thagavelu to safe a medal in Paris.
(With PTI inputs)
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