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India's Nishad Kumar won his second consecutive silver Paralympics medal. In the men's high jump T47 event, the 24-year-old won the silver medal with his season-best jump of 2.04 metre.
USA's Roderick Townsend, who also won the gold medal at Tokyo Olympics, finished at top with a jump of 2.12 metre. It was Townsend’s season-best jump as well.
Nishad had set high standards for himself. He attempted to clear 2.08 metre but had to lower his mark to go past Neutral Paralympic Athletes' Georgii Margieve who won the bronze with a 2 metre effort.
Another Indian athlete, Ram Pal, participated in the event. He achieved his personal best of 1.95 metre but it was not enough for a podium finish. He finished seventh among the 12 athletes.
Where do India stand on the medals tally?
This was India's seventh medal at the Paris Paralympics and second silver. With one gold, two silver and four bronze medals, India are currently placed 27th on the medals tally. Earlier in the day, Preethi won a bronze medal in 200m T35 category after clocking her personal best time of 30.01 seconds. This is her second bronze medal at Paris Olympics. On August 30, Preethi won a bronze in the 100m T35 category.
Nishad’s journey to two Paralympics medals
Nishad came from a humble background. He helped his father on a half-acre farmland in village Badaun, Himachal Pradesh. In 2007, when he was just eight years old, Nishad lost his hand in a fodder-cutting machine.
As a child, he would compete with able-bodied kids and win medals in 100m, 200m and high jump events. In 2017, he moved to Panchkula and trained under coach Naseem Ahmad.
His first medal came in World Champions 2019 in Dubai. He won the bronze medal. After bagging a silver medal at the Tokyo Paralympics, he set a record in Hangzhou Asian Para Games to win gold. In 2023 and 2024 World Championships he won a silver medal each as well.
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