New Delhi: It was a field day for Indian para-athletes in the men’s high jump T63 final at the Paris Paralympics 2024 as Sharad Kumar and Mariyappan Thangavelu won a medal each. Sharad exceeded expectations to win the silver medal with his best jump of 1.88m while Thangavelu took the bronze medal with his best jump of 1.85m in the final.
There were a total of three Indian athletes competing in the men’s high jump T63 final as Shailesh Kumar was also in action alongside Sharad and Thangavelu. However, he failed to find a spot on the podium as his best effort of 1.85m came in his second attempt in the final. USA’s Ezra Frech, the world record holder in the men’s T63 category, won the gold medal after shattering the Paralympics record with a 1.94m jump in the final.
The Indian trio comfortably cleared the 1.77m and 1.81m marks during the final. However, only Thangavelu managed to clear the 1.85m mark in his first attempt as the competition intensified towards the end of the final. The rest of the para-athletes took at least a couple of attempts at clearing the 1.85m mark.
Thangavelu and Shailesh both failed to clear the 1.88m mark but Sharad had saved the best for the last as he managed to jump 1.88m to remain in contention for gold. However, he was up against Frech, who had unlocked another level in the final and picked up momentum towards the end. The American went for the 1.91 and 1.94 m marks and comfortably cleared them while Shailesh failed to do so to settle for silver.
Frech didn’t stop there as he also had a shot at breaking his own world record by attempting 1.98 m in the final. However, he failed to clear it but his best effort of 1.94m was enough to fetch him gold medal at the Paris Paralympics 2024.
2nd Paralympics medal for Sharad, 3rd for Thangavelu
Sharad clinched his second successive medal at the Paralympics and upgraded his medal colour in Paris as he bagged the silver medal after clinching bronze in the last edition of the Games in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Thangavelu, who won the gold medal at the Rio Paralympics and silver in Tokyo, had to settle for bronze medal this time around.
The twin medals in high jump helped India record their best-ever show in a single edition of the Paralympics as it took the country’s overall tally to 20 medals. India have broken the record set at the Tokyo Paralympics where they won 19 medals.
India manged to grab two spots on the podium in the men’s high jump T63 final at the Paris Paralympics 2024 as Sharad Kumar and Mariyappan Thangavelu won silver and bronze medal respectively. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
