Nishad Kumar wins men's high jump silver in Paralympics

Tokyo: India’s Nishad Kumar clinched a silver medal in the men’s high jump T47 event in the Paralympics with an Asian record effort here on Sunday.

The 21-year-old Kumar cleared 2.06m to win the silver and set an Asian record. American Dallas Wise was also awarded a silver as he and Kumar cleared the same height of 2.06m.

Another American, Roderick Townsend, won the gold with a world record jump of 2.15m.

Another Indian in the fray, Ram Pal finished fifth with a best jump of 1.94m.

T47 class is meant for athletes with a unilateral upper limb impairment resulting in some loss of function at the shoulder, elbow and wrist.

Hailing from Una in Himachal Preadeh, Kumar met with an accident at the age of eight that resulted in the loss of his right hand.

He also contracted COVID-19 earlier this year while training at the SAI Centre in Bengaluru.

“Absolutely delighted that Nishad Kumar wins the Silver medal in Men’s High Jump T47. He is a remarkable athlete with outstanding skills and tenacity. Congratulations to him,” tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kumar had won a gold medal in the men’s high jump T46/47 event at the Fazza World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Dubai earlier this year. He began competing in para athletics in 2009.

This was India”s second medal of the Games after Bhavinaben Patel won a silver in women”s singles table tennis class 4 event earlier in the day.

Patel became only the second Indian woman to win a medal at the Games following a 0-3 loss to world number one Chinese paddler Ying Zhou in the final.