Paris (France): India’s Praveen Kumar bagged the gold medal in the men’s high jump T64 event at the Paris Paralympics. The Indian athlete cleared a distance of 2.08 metres to win his second successive medal in the Paralympics. The 21-year-old had won a silver in the Tokyo Games previously, where he became the youngest Paralympian to win a medal. With his gold, he secured the highest gold medal count for India in any edition of the Paralympics.
Also, he became the only second Indian after Mariyappan Thangavelu to finish at the top of the podium in Paralympic high jump competitions. The Noida-based athlete, who was born with a short leg finished at the top position amongst the six competitors in the fray.
Play. PRA(WIN). Progress✅🫡
— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) September 6, 2024
What an extraordinary performance from Para High Jumper Praveen Kumar!
He upgrades his #Tokyo2020 Silver to Gold with a tremendous Personal Best leap of 2.08m and boosts #TeamIndia’s rankings in the #ParisParalympics2024 medals tally.
Savour… pic.twitter.com/yJ9VQdSZio
Derek Loccident of the USA won a silver with the best jump of 2.06 meters. Temurbek Giyazov of Uzbekistan finished at the third position with a jump of 2.03 meters. Praveen comes under the T64 classification which is designed for athletes with moderate movement impairment in one lower leg or those missing one or both legs below the knee.
Praveen became the third Indian high jumper to secure a podium finish in the Paris Games. Sharad Kumar won silver while Mariyappan Thangavelu bagged bronze in the men’s high jump T63 event.
Praveen Kumar’s accomplishments go beyond the Paralympics. He won a silver medal at the 2019 World Para Athletics Junior Championship in Switzerland. He also won a gold medal at the 2021 World Para Athletics FAZZA Grand Prix in Dubai while setting an Asian record. He also won a bronze at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships.
