Noida: Three months ago, Praveen Kumar wasn’t sure of making it to the Paris Paralympics. He met with an injury that made practice too difficult for him.
But on Friday, the 21-year-old from Jewar made history, becoming the second Indian after Mariyappan Thangavelu to strike gold in Paralympic high jump for men (T64).
“I dedicate this gold to my coach, parents, and country — all of whom made it possible.It’s a different feeling I cannot express in words,” said Praveen, who bagged a silver at the Tokyo Games of 2020 and a gold at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou in 2022.
Born with a short leg, Praveen performed a season-best jump of 2.08m in the six-jumper field to finish on top. In Tokyo, he had performed 2.07m and bagged silver.
“He met with an injury just three months ago, which made it quite difficult for him to undergo training sessions at peak time. But he made history today because of his hard work and determination,” coach Satyapal Singh said.
As a person with a limb deformity and a height of 5ft 5 inches, it was “difficult” for Praveen to pursue a career in high jump. There wasn’t many to encourage him either. “My teachers in school would tell me it was of no use because of my disability. That hurt my self-esteem. But I took it as a challenge,” he had told a TOI interview published on Oct 27 last year.
It was in 2019 that Praveen took to high jump. He also participated in the World Parathletic Junior Championship in Switzerland.
With no stadium around him then, sand patches around construction sites became the practice ground for Praveen in his initial years. Later, he practised at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium of Delhi.
At that time, Praveen was preparing for the T42 category, in which the world record was a jump of 1.9m. But his category was changed to T44, for which it was 2.19m.
“I wasn’t convinced if I could do it, especially because I had just recovered from an injury. But my coach was never short of motivation. He kept pushing me and I took a chance,” he added on Friday.
His parents in Govindgarh couldn’t be happier.
“This is the happiest moment for us. As parents, we tried to provide him every support we could. He couldn’t undergo training during Covid. So, I made a sand patch for him in our field. We are proud of him,” said Amar Pal Singh, Praveen’s father, a farmer.
But on Friday, the 21-year-old from Jewar made history, becoming the second Indian after Mariyappan Thangavelu to strike gold in Paralympic high jump for men (T64).
“I dedicate this gold to my coach, parents, and country — all of whom made it possible.It’s a different feeling I cannot express in words,” said Praveen, who bagged a silver at the Tokyo Games of 2020 and a gold at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou in 2022.
Born with a short leg, Praveen performed a season-best jump of 2.08m in the six-jumper field to finish on top. In Tokyo, he had performed 2.07m and bagged silver.
“He met with an injury just three months ago, which made it quite difficult for him to undergo training sessions at peak time. But he made history today because of his hard work and determination,” coach Satyapal Singh said.
As a person with a limb deformity and a height of 5ft 5 inches, it was “difficult” for Praveen to pursue a career in high jump. There wasn’t many to encourage him either. “My teachers in school would tell me it was of no use because of my disability. That hurt my self-esteem. But I took it as a challenge,” he had told a TOI interview published on Oct 27 last year.
It was in 2019 that Praveen took to high jump. He also participated in the World Parathletic Junior Championship in Switzerland.
With no stadium around him then, sand patches around construction sites became the practice ground for Praveen in his initial years. Later, he practised at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium of Delhi.
At that time, Praveen was preparing for the T42 category, in which the world record was a jump of 1.9m. But his category was changed to T44, for which it was 2.19m.
“I wasn’t convinced if I could do it, especially because I had just recovered from an injury. But my coach was never short of motivation. He kept pushing me and I took a chance,” he added on Friday.
His parents in Govindgarh couldn’t be happier.
“This is the happiest moment for us. As parents, we tried to provide him every support we could. He couldn’t undergo training during Covid. So, I made a sand patch for him in our field. We are proud of him,” said Amar Pal Singh, Praveen’s father, a farmer.
#Paralympic #gold #Asiad #Jewar #boy #Praveen #Kumar #2year #dream #run #Times #India
