New Delhi: Vinod Kumar, the 41-year-old Indian discus thrower, on Monday lost his F52 category bronze medal after the classification panel was unable to allocate the Indian athlete with a sport class on Monday. The BSF man, subsequent re-assessment, was therefore considered ineligible for Men's F52 Discuss medal event meaning his bronze on Sunday will not count.
"Following classification Observation Assessment in competition and subsequent re-assessment by the classification panel, the panel was unable to allocate the athlete Vinod Kumar from NPC India with a sport class and the athlete was designated as Classification not Completed (CNC)," an official statement by organising committee read.
"The athlete is therefore ineligible for the Men's F52 Discus medal event and his results in that competition are void," the statement added.
Vinod Kumar, with his best throw of 19.91m in the Men's Discus Throw F52 final, won a bronze medal on Sunday and also managed to set a new Asian Record. Vinod Kumar, in all his six attempts, registered throws of 17.46m, 18.32m, 17.80m, 19.12m, 19.91m, and 19.81m. In the fifth try, he had managed to register his best attempt.
Poland's Piotr Kosewicz, with the best throw of 20.02m, won the gold medal. His second try was his best attempt while Croatia's Velimir Sandor (19.98m) secured the silver medal for his country.
Earlier in the day, 19-year old Avani Lekhara became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal at Paralympic Games. She won a gold in women's 10m AR Standing SH1 Final. This is India's first medal in shooting this year.