Tokyo Paralympics: Nishad Kumar clinches silver in men's high jump
India's Nishad Kumar clinched the silver medal in the men's high jump at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympic Games on Sunday. Nishad emulated his own Asian record with a jump of 2.06m in the final of the event. He secured India's second medal in Tokyo before Vinod Kumar clinched bronze in the men's discus throw. Here are further details.
How did the others perform?
Besides Nishad, the other Indian in the fray, Ram Pal, finished fifth. He also equaled his personal best jump of 1.94m. America's Dallas Wise registered a best jump of 2.06m, as did Nishad. Meanwhile, the other American in the event, Roderick Townsend, set a new world record by jumping 2.15m. He went on to win the gold medal.
Here's how the final panned out
In the final, Nishad Kumar started with a jump of 1.89m. However, Ram Pal cleared the height of 1.89m in his very first attempt. The former then touched 2.02m and 2.06m to equal his Asian record. Although Wise gave him tough competition, Roderick emerged as the front-runner after touching the 2.09m mark. He later cleared the 2.15m mark to break the world record.
Vinod Kumar wins bronze in men's discus throw
After the brilliant effort of Nishad, Vinod Kumar bagged the bronze medal in the men's discus throw F52 event. He attained the feat with a best attempt of 19.91m in the discus throw final. Vinod broke the Asian record and finished third behind Poland's Piotr Kosewicz (20.02m) and Croatia's Velimir Sandor (19.98m). He won India's third medal of the day.
Vinod is an ex-BSF jawan
Vinod is a former BSF jawan, who suffered a painful accident, that left him bed-ridden. He had injured his legs while training. In an unfortunate event, he fell off a cliff in Leh. Vinod faced several challenges before finally taking up para-sports.
Bhavina Patel became the first Indian para-paddler to win silver
Before Nishad and Vinod, Bhavina scripted history for India. Earlier in the day, the table tennis player clinched silver after losing 0-3 to world number one Ying Zhou in the women's singles Class 4 final. Patel finished with a 7-11, 5-11, 6-11 loss in the summit clash which lasted 19 minutes. She became the first Indian para-paddler to win a silver medal.
India could equal their best-ever tally at Paralympics
Having won three medals, India are now one short of emulating their best-ever tally at a single Paralympics edition. India had secured four medals in 2016 and 1984 each. So far, India have claimed a total of 15 medals (gold: 4, silver: 6, bronze: 5).
