- By Namrata Vijay
- Fri, 06 Sep 2024 05:36 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Paris Paralympics 2024: India's Praveen Kumar clinched the country's sixth gold medal at the Paris Paralympics 2024 in the men's high jump T-64 category. USA's Derek Loccident won the silver medal by recording his personal best jump of 2.06m, whereas Uzbekistan's Temurbek Giyazov jumped at the distance of 2.03m and won the bronze medal.
Hailing from Noida, Uttar Pradesh, Praveen became successful at quite an early age and became the youngest para-athlete to have won a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. He had clinched the silver medal then in the men's high-jump T64 category by jumping at a distance of 2.07m.
He was born with a short leg and used to struggle due to an inferiority complex and to overcome these challenges, he began participating in different sports and then found his passion for volleyball.
Also Read: Praveen Kumar wins gold medal at Paris Paralympics 2024 in men's high jump T64 category
But an important event changed his life after he competed in a high jump event with able-bodied athletes and that's how he was introduced to para-athletics.
Under Dr. Satyapal Singh's guidance, a para-athletics coach, who identified Praveen's talent, encouraged him to switch to the high jump. It was the right decision for Praveen, who clinched the gold medal at the 2022 Asian Para Games and broke the Asian record by jumping at a distance of 2.05m.
He also clinched the silver medal at the World Para Athletics Championship, which was held in Switzerland in 2019, and then won the gold medal by creating an Asian record at the 2021 World Para Athletics FAZZA Grand Prix in Dubai.
Recently, he clinched the bronze medal at the 2023 World Para Athletics championship, which helped him to qualify for the ongoing quadrennial event.