Paris (France): The Tokyo Paralympics gold medalist India's Yogesh Kathuniya bagged the silver medal in the Men's Discus Throw - F56 event at the ongoing Paris Paralympics 2024 here on Monday.
The World Para-Athletics Championships silver medalist Kathuniya registered the season's best throw of 42.22m to claim the silver behind Brazil's Claudiney Batista dos Santos, who clinched gold with a Paralympic record throw of 46.86m. Konstantinos Tzounis of Greece took the bronze with a best throw of 41.32.
Kathuniya recorded his best attempt that helped him to win silver in his very first attempt and followed it up with throws of 41.50m, 41.55m, 40.33m, 40.89m and 39.68m respectively. The 27-year-old Indian had won the silver in Tokyo 2020 with a best effort of 44.38m while also finishing behind Santos back then.
Kathuniya developed a rare neurological condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome when he was just nine years old. He took up Para sports in 2017 during his college days. While he tried several disciplines, he gradually fell in love with the discus throw. Kathuniya's silver is India's eighth medal at the Para Games in Paris and fourth in athletics.
Earlier, Nishad won silver in the men's high jump T47 and Preethi Pal won bronze medals in the 100m and 200m T35 class events. The other four medals for India were won in para shooting. Avani Lekhara and Mona Agarwal won gold and bronze, respectively, in the 10m air rifle shooting standing in SH1 class. Manish Narwal (men's 10m air pistol SH1) and Rubina Francis (women's 10m air pistol SH1) won silver and bronze, respectively.
