New Delhi: India's Vinod Kumar on Sunday secured the bronze medal in Men's Discus throw F52 Finals, in the ongoing Tokyo Paralympic Games 2020, being played in Tokyo, but now disheartening news has come out for the Indian fans. As per news agency ANI, Vinod Kumar's classification is under review and his result is on hold.
With a throw of 19.98 meters, Vinod Kumar now holds the Asian record in the F52 category of discus throw. The star para-athlete started with a throw of 17.46 meters in his six attempts. After this, he threw 18.32m, 17.80m, 19.20m, 19.91m and 19.81m. In the fifth try, he had managed to register his best attempt that helped him bag the silver medal and create a new Asian record.
"It was only four days back that his classification was done and I was there. Three Tokyo Paralympics classifiers had classified Vinod Kumar as F52 and we are confident that the medal will stay after review even though there has been a protest," Team India's Deputy Chef de Mission Arhan Bagati told ANI.
Dallas Wise, who finished on the same mark with Nishad, recorded a jump of 2.15m to share the second spot with him. However, Nishad had crossed the 2.02 mark in his first attempt while Wise took two. India's Rampal Chahar finished at the fifth spot with a jump of 1.94m. With a World Record jump of 2.15m, USA's Roderick Townsend secured the gold medal in the same event.
India has so far won three medals in Paralympics 2020, all on Sunday. Before Vinod Kumar, earlier in the day, Nishad Kumar had secured a silver medal for the country in high jump. Tennis Table player Bhavinaben Patel won a silver medal in the women's singles table tennis class 4 event on Sunday.