NEW DELHI — Indian para discus thrower Vinod Kumar took the country’s Tokyo Paralympic medal tally to three with a bronze medal in the F52 category on Aug. 29.
However, his 19.92-meter (65.35) throw at his debut Paralympics was called into question by a protest over the 41-year-old’s disability qualification.
Kumar registered throws of 17.46, 18.32, 17.80, 19.12, 19.91, and 19.81 meters in his six attempts to finish third behind Poland’s Piotr Kosewiczwin (20.02m) and Velimir Sandor (19.98m) of Croatia. The Indian registered his best attempt in his fifth try.
However, the Victory Ceremony was postponed to the evening session of Aug. 30 after a protest was staged against him.
Technical Delegates of the organizing committee said that the Men’s Discus F52 was under the “Classification Observation Process.” “Results of the event are currently under review due to classification observation in competition,” it said.
The Indian contingent, however, said it is confident that Kumar will retain his bronze medal.
Team India’s Deputy Chef de Mission Arhan Bagati said he had closely followed the events since before the incident and wasn’t perturbed by the decision to review.
It was only four days back that his classification was done, and I was there,” he said.
“Three Tokyo Paralympics classifiers had classified Vinod Kumar as F52, and we are confident that the medal will stay after review even though there has been a protest.”
A Class 52 designation is for athletes with impaired muscle power, leg lopsidedness or limb deficiency, and or restricted movement. Classes F51-53 are inclusive of similar disabilities with wheelchairs or throwing chairs used across the 50s.
Meanwhile, soon after Kumar’s victory was announced, President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated him.
“Congratulations to Vinod Kumar for winning bronze at Paralympics. You have done India proud with your podium finish. I appreciate your grit and determination. May you scale greater heights of success,” the official account of Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a tweet.
Modi, too, in his greeting, commended Kumar for his hard work and determination.
“India is rejoicing thanks to Vinod Kumar’s stupendous performance! Congratulations to him for the Bronze Medal. His hard work and determination are yielding outstanding results,” Modi’s tweet said.
Kumar was the third Indian athlete to win a medal at the Tokyo Paralympics 2020. Track-and-field athlete, high jumper Nishad Kumar had earlier won a piece of silverware in the High Jump event, and Bhavinaben Patel became only the second Indian woman to finish in the top three (second) at Paralympics on Aug. 29, losing to World number one Zhou Ying. The achievement was previously solely held by Paralympic Committee of India chief Deepa Malik.
(With inputs from ANI)
Edited by Amrita Das and Krishna Kakani
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