Paralympics 2024: Silver medallist at the Tokyo Paralympics 2020 Praveen Kumar bettered his performance on the international stage and that too in style. Praveen Kumar, a Paralympian and High Jumper, won the sixth Gold Medal for the country. His historic feat marks India’s biggest-ever gold medal haul at the Summer Paralympic Games.
Praveen Kumar’s Historic Gold Medal at the Paris Paralympics 2024
21-year-old Praveen Kumar on Friday became the only Indian to win a gold medal in the High Jump T64 event at this Paralympics. He achieved this incredible feat by producing his season-best jump of 2.08m. The USA’s Derek Loccident and Uzbekistan’s Temurbek Giyazov gave Indian High Jumper a tough fight but couldn’t put pressure on Praveen. First USA’s Derek cleared off the 2.06m Mark and set the Paralympics record. Praveen chose to break it and attempted for 2.08m which confirmed a medal for the nation. After attempting this height Indian Para Athlete set a new record and broke his personal best as well. After this huge attempt, both Praveen and Derek tried to breach the 2.10m mark but failed to do so. This resulted in India finishing at the top of the podium and the USA and Uzbekistan took the 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
Previously, Sharad Kumar and Mariyappan Thangavelu won a silver and a bronze at the Paris Paralympics respectively in High Jump T63. Praveen Kumar won the gold medal in the T64 category. His Gold medal led the country’s medal tally to 26, the best so far.
Praveen Kumar’s Journey to Paralympics
Paralympian Praveen Kumar is a 21-year-old para-athlete from Noida. He made history at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, he became the youngest Indian to win a medal at the event. Praveen was born with a shorter limb which made him struggle during the initial days of his life. Later, to build confidence and overcome the inferiority complex he bent towards sports. He took part in the High Jump competition for the able-bodied and got to know that there are competitions for people with disabilities as well. Praveen didn’t look back after that. He won a gold medal at the Asian Games 2022 and set the Asian record of 2.05m. The para-athlete set a new record and became the gold medallist at the Paralympic Games 2024.
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