Tokyo Paralympics silver medalist Praveen Kumar smashed the Asian record to win the gold medal in the men’s high jump T64 event at the Paris Paralympics on Friday.
The 21-year-old jumper from Noida, Praveen recorded a season-best jump of 2.08m in the final to finish on the top of the podium bettering his medal from the previous edition.
Praveen finished ahead of USA’s Derek Loccident who won the silver with a best jump of 2.06m and Uzbekistan’s Temurbek Giyazov, who notched a personal best of 2.03m to win the bronze.
Praveen is now a PARALYMPIC CHAMPION 🥇🏆🌟
Praveen Kumar wins India’s SIXTH gold medal at the #Paralympics2024, most ever! 😍🥳
Incredible stuff from the 2⃣1⃣-year-old as he accomplishes a massive feat with an Asian Record jump in Men’s High Jump T64 final! 🙌#ParaAthletics… pic.twitter.com/bfzCYtw8zq
— The Bridge (@the_bridge_in) September 6, 2024
Praveen, who was born with a short leg, also won the gold medal at the Asian Para Games last year in Hangzhou, China and won a bronze medal at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships.
This is India’s 26th medal and 6th gold of the 2024 Paris Paralympics and the country has jumped to 14th in the medal tally.
With this medal, India has recorded the highest-ever gold medal tally at the Paralympics crossing the five medals from the Tokyo Paralympics.