Mariyappan Thangavelu won silver in high jump and Sharad Kumar won bronze in Paralympics

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Tokyo: Defending champions Mariyappan Thangavelu and Sharad Kumar won silver and bronze medals respectively in the men’s high jump T42 event as India’s medal tally at the Paralympics touched the 10 mark on Tuesday with a consistent performance.

Mariyappan covered a distance of 1.86m, while American gold winner Sam Gravey managed to rise above 1.88m in his third attempt. Kumar won the bronze medal with an effort of 1.83.

“I could have won the gold and claimed the world record. That’s why I have come here. But the rain spoiled the game. It was drizzling in the beginning but it got heavy after the 1.80m mark. My other legs The sock of (impaired right leg) got wet and it became difficult to jump,” Mariyappan said after the incident.

“In Rio, the weather was great and I won the gold medal. I will try to set gold and world record in Paris 2024.”

Varun Singh Bhati, the third Indian in the field and 2016 Rio Paralympic bronze winner, finished seventh out of nine competitors after failing to cross the 1.77m mark.

Kumar revealed that he was considering withdrawing from the competition due to a leg injury.

“I had a foot injury, meniscus dislocated (a type of knee injury) yesterday. I thought of moving out today but came back home from my family. He said just go ahead. Told me to read the Bhagavad Gita and focus on what I can do and not on what I have no control over,” he said.

The T42 classification is for athletes with a leg crunch, leg length differences, impaired muscle strength, or impaired passive range of motion in the legs. Athletes compete in a standing position.

The Indians were in the top three for most of the competition and Mariyappan was also in contention for a gold.

India has so far won two gold, five silver and three bronze medals in the ongoing Games.

Athletics has once again been the country’s happy hunting ground with one gold, four silver and two bronze and a few more are expected before the Games conclude on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, shooter Sinhraj Adana won a bronze medal in the men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 event.

26-year-old Mariyappan was touted as a sure shot medalist for India after he rose to fame with his gold at the Rio Games five years ago.

The Tamil Nadu athlete suffered a permanent disability in his right leg when he was only 5 years old when he was crushed under a bus. Doctors had recommended amputation of his leg, but his mother Saroja decided against it.

His father left the family long ago, and Mariyappan grew up struggling with poverty as his determined mother worked as a laborer before becoming a vegetable vendor.

Mariyappan was training at the Sports Authority of India Center in Bangalore under coach Satyanarayana before the Paralympics.

Kumar, who hails from Patna in Bihar, was paralyzed in his left leg at the age of two after being administered a fake polio vaccine.

He had been training in Ukraine for more than two years before the Games under foreign coach Nikitin Yeven at full cost of the central government.

The government also assisted them in their return from Ukraine to India during the COVID-19 restrictions.

He is a two-time Asian Para Games gold medalist.

The gold medal in track and field came from javelin thrower Sumit Antil, who broke his own world record five times during his spectacular Games debut in the F64 category (for athletes with amputated legs, who were in a standing position). Compete with prosthetics) ) on Monday.

Read also: Avani Lekhara wins India’s first gold medal at Tokyo Paralympics in 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 event

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