It was a memorable day for India at the Tokyo Paralympics on Sunday - which they ended with two silver medals and a bronze - easily their most successful day in the history of the Games.
If para table tennis player Bhavina Patel started the day with a silver medal in the women’s singles Class 4 competition, high jumper Nishad Kumar added a silver and discus thrower Vinod Kumar a bronze to the tally on the fifth day of competition.
“This is turning out to be an epic National Sports Day! #IND has won it’s 3rd Medal at #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics,’’ tweeted Anurag Thakur, the Union Minister of Sports as August 29, the birthday of Indian hockey legend Dhyan Chand, is celebrated as the National Sports Day every year. With three medals on a single day, India are only one medal short of equalling their best-ever tally for four in Rio Paralympics in 2016.
In the evening session at the main Olympic Stadium, high jumper Nishad Kumar cleared the bar at 2.06 in his category to equal the Asian record. Nishad finished second behind Roderick Townsend of the United States, who set a world record by clearing 2 metres and 15 cm.
Discus thrower Vinod Kumar added a bronze to the tally by finishing third in the F52 event, hurling the disc to 19.91 metres for an Asian record.
India, who had failed to win a single medal on the first four days, hence finished the day at 42nd position behind Georgia, who has three silver medals. This takes India’s overall tally to 15 at the Paralympic Games - 4 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze medals.
The day started on a rousing note as Bhavina Patel, a 34-year-old government employee from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, sealed India’s first silver medal after she lost to world No. 1 Zhou Ying in women’s singles Class 4 final.
The 21-year-old Nishad Kumar, who hails from Una in Himachal Pradesh, started with 1.89 metres. He cleared 1.94 in his second effort and 1.98 and his third. His best effort of 2.06 came in his fifth jump and though he went for 2.09 in his final chance, he could not clear it and had to settle for second place.
Vinod Kumar was the unlikely hero late on Sunday in discus throw F52. The 42-year-old Vinod, who took up para-athletics only in his 30s, hurled the discus to 19.91 metres in the seated/standing discus throw event on his fifth effort. He finished third behind Poland’s gold medallist Piotr Kosewicz (20.02m) and Croatia’s Velimir Sandor (19.98).
At one time the 42-year-old from Rohtak in Haryana was placed second before Sandor cleared 19.98 in his fifth throw to take the silver medal.
Vinod ranked sixth in the world, had started with 19.09 metres in his first throw before he managed to clear 19.81 in his second chance, clearly establishing his intent to fight for the medal.
Vinod comes from a army family - his father was injured during the 1971 war with Pakistan. Vinod had joined BSF after completing his education but had to leave the force as he suffered an injury in 2002 when he fell off a cliff in Leh, leading to severe injuries to his legs. He was bed-ridden for close to 10 years before taking up the sport in yet another incredible testimony to human spirit.
- With inputs from IANS
