'Was waiting for an able-bodied event,' says para high jumper Nishad Kumar after National Games debut

It was Sarvesh Kushare of Services who clinched the gold in the men's high jump event with a massive jump of 2.27m. Aromal T (Kerala) and Chethan Balasubramanya (Services) took the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Amidst all the able-bodied jumpers was Paralympian Nishad Kumar who stood out of the crowd, in a good way. Although he came fifth in the event with an attempt of 2.14m, Kumar made sure that he enjoyed his National Games debut.

"I was just enjoying the competition," a smiling Nishad said. "Everyone was supporting me and I was supporting everyone. An 18-year-old jumper was feeling nervous and I just told him to chill and enjoy," he recalled from the event.

While off-season follows after the National Games, Nishad hopes to train in the US once again and train for the World Championships and the Para Asian Games next year. He stresses that training will determine his targets for next season.

This wasn't Nishad's first rodeo amongst other able-bodied jumpers, but such an event was a long time coming for the Himachal Pradesh athlete, who turned 23 today. "I was waiting for the right moment to participate in an able-bodied event, and National Games was it.

It was in Tokyo when Nishad made his Paralympics debut and made it a memorable first time by winning the silver medal by creating the then-Asian record. Prior to that, he had won the bronze at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships.