Paralympics 2024: Praveen Kumar breaks Asia record to win gold in high jump
With Praveen's gold India has bettered the five gold medal mark from 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
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, 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.
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