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Tag: Tokyo Paralympics

  • Indian para-athlete banned for dishonest at Paralympics

    Para-athlete Vinod Kumar, who had received the bronze medal within the discus throw occasion (F52 class) on the Tokyo Paralympics final August, was on Tuesday suspended for 2 years for ‘intentional misrepresentation’ of his talents.

    Accusing the Indian of dishonest, World Para Athletics, in a press release on its web site, mentioned the Board of Appeal of Classification (BAC) imposed the two-year sanction that may make Kumar ineligible to compete in para-athletics competitions till August 2023.

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    They added that his competitors performances weren’t constant together with his classification performances.

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    “The World Para Athletics commenced disciplinary proceedings with the BAC after Kumar intentionally misrepresented his abilities when he presented for classification at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games,” the world physique mentioned in a press release. “Under the World Para Athletics Classification Rules and Regulations, it is a disciplinary offence for an athlete to intentionally misrepresent their skills or abilities and/or the degree or nature of their impairment. It is also a disciplinary offence for any athlete support person to assist, conceal or be complicit in any Intentional Misrepresentation by an athlete.”

    At the Games, Kumar had produced a greatest throw of 19.91m to complete third behind Piotr Kosewicz (20.02m) of Poland and Velimir Sandor (19.98m) of Croatia. Soon after the occasion, nonetheless, the outcomes have been put underneath overview. A day later, the organisers introduced the ‘amendment’ of the outcome.

    Kumar was discovered to be ineligible for the boys’s F52 discus medal because the classification panel was ‘unable to allocate’ him a ‘sport class’ after commentary and re-assessment, a press release issued by the Games’ technical delegates learn. The resolution meant Kumar didn’t win a medal.

    Athletes who participate within the F52 class have good shoulder and higher physique management however lack motor expertise of their arms and fingers together with none or restricted trunk and leg perform.

    Christian Holtz, Managing Director of World Para Sports, was quoted as saying: “Intentional Misrepresentation is a very serious offence and athletes are required to give their best effort when presenting to a classification panel. The classification system is crucial to ensure fair competition and this case shows how committed World Para Athletics is to protect the integrity of the sport.”

  • The Paralympic medal that wasn’t nonetheless torments Vinod Kumar’s household

    It’s been over per week since Vinod Kumar misplaced his Paralympic discus throw (F52) bronze however his daughter nonetheless believes her father is a Paralympic medallist. Sakshi, 7, watched her father end third on the reside stream however isn’t conscious but of the fiasco that adopted.
    “She still thinks her father got home a medal from Tokyo,” says Anita, Vinod’s spouse
    There’s no mistaking the air of grief and anguish on the rented lodging in Rohtak the Kumar’s name residence. They’ve gone by way of an emotional roller-coaster these previous few weeks. First, there was the enjoyment of the 41-year-old setting a career-best try of 19.91m to earn him bronze within the F52 classification of the boys’s discus occasion in Tokyo. But the consequence was placed on maintain for a classification overview. And after the evaluation the next morning, the panel discovered him ineligible for the F52 class.
    “We had already distributed sweets to our neighbours and were celebrating his win,” Anita recollects. “We thought our life would change after the medal but later that night my husband called me to and said the results were put on hold.”
    Vinod’s name got here as their residence was swarming with celebrating associates and relations. They muted the festivities, however nonetheless remained hopeful. But the following day, Vinod, in tears, referred to as Anita to tell her that he wouldn’t return with a medal.
    “No matter how tough you are at the end of the day, you are human. I am still shattered,” says Vinod.
    The second the preliminary outcomes got here out, Vinod thought his life would take a flip for good.
    “I thought I would finally be able to buy a house for my children. I thought my loan installments would be sorted and I could also return the money I have borrowed from my sister,” he provides.
    He claims the loans, together with curiosity, quantity to round Rs 10 lakh. The small grocery retailer they ran close to the Rohtak stadium too has been vacated and the household presently has no supply of earnings.
    “I don’t want to sit and think all day about the medal that slipped from my hands, but I want to train for Paris. I desperately need some support or else I would be forced to quit sports. Right now, it’s a struggle to even take care of my family’s expenses. How will I be able to compete when I have no source of income?” says Vinod.

    In 2002, whereas coaching with the Border Security Force in Leh, he fell off a cliff. He required main surgical procedure to each legs and remained bedridden for nearly a decade.
    “After my father’s demise, the family’s responsibilities grew on me. I knew I had to do something. I pushed myself during my physiotherapy sessions and slowly developed some strength in my upper body,” he says.
    In 2010, he obtained married to Anita who has been his cornerstone ever since. “Without her, I wouldn’t have been able to become a professional athlete,” says Vinod.
    The Rohtak resident’s foray into athletics although was fairly current. It was solely after he got here throughout a newspaper article about Rio Paralympic silver medallist Deepa Malik in 2016 that the household was launched to the world of para-sports.
    “We had no clue that differently-abled people could take part in sports,” says Vinod.
    He wished to know extra about para-sports and operating a small retailer close to Rohtak’s Rajiv Gandhi Stadium helped his case.
    Archery coach Sanjay Suhag, who used to frequent his retailer guided him by way of the method initially. Vinod began coaching for discus on the stadium and would later rush to the shop so his spouse Anita might get just a little break. The routine continued till final 12 months when travelled to Bangalore for remedy.
    He was twice contaminated with Covid-19 and briefly misplaced his voice after his first bout with the virus.
    “It was not easy to come back and resume training after Covid. I have worked really hard in the run-up to Tokyo but unfortunately, this issue happened. But I don’t live in the past. I never have,” Vinod concludes.
    Now he appears to be like in the direction of Paris 2024.

  • Bhagat-Kohli blended doubles duo loses bronze medal match in Paralympics badminton

    The Indian blended doubles duo of Pramod Bhagat and Palak Kohli suffered a slim defeat by the hands of Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara and Akiko Sugino of their bronze-medal play-off match of the Paralympics on Sunday.
    The Indian duo misplaced 21-23 19-21 to their Japanese opponents within the SL3-SU5 class last that lasted 37 minutes to finish their marketing campaign at fourth place. They had earlier misplaced the semifinals 3-21 15-21 to the Indonesian mixture of Hary Susanto and Leani Ratri Oktila.

    The two pairs had been neck-and-neck all through the match. The Indians had been 10-8 up within the first recreation however the Japanese got here again strongly to stage at 10-10. After that, the score-line learn 14-14, 18-18 after which 20-20. The Indians had been up 21-20 however then ultimately misplaced 21-23.

    Absolutely unbelievable show of gritty teamwork & partnership by @palakkohli2002 & @PramodBhagat83 in Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5 #Badminton to shut out #IND‘s magnificent historic rally at #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics! A effectively fought 4th place, what a match!🏸 #Praise4Para #Parabadminton pic.twitter.com/1l5FJSWKWx
    — Paralympic India 🇮🇳 #Cheer4India 🏅 #Praise4Para (@ParalympicIndia) September 5, 2021
    In the second recreation additionally, the 2 pairs had been on equal footing and 10-10 on the halfway level earlier than the Japanese surged forward to win 21-19 and pocket the bronze. The 33-year-old Bhagat on Saturday claimed India’s first badminton gold on the Paralympics in males’s singles SL3 class. It was 19-year-old Kohli’s debut Paralympics.
    In SL3 class, shuttlers with minor decrease limb impairment play standing whereas gamers with higher limb impairment play standing in SL5.

  • I simply inform myself I’m the very best: One extra India para story with gold lining

    There’s a Nawazuddin Siddiqui soundtrack taking part in behind the inscrutable face that Pramod Bhagat wears to any match — even the one the place the SL3 class shuttler had India’s first ever para badminton medal, a gold, round his neck after a 21-14, 21-17 remaining.
    His buddy Sukant Kadam, world No. 5 in SL4, and his roommate, began chanting Bhagat’s favorite line from the gritty movie Manjhi: “Jab tak todenge nahin, tab tak chhodenge nahin.” He wouldn’t go away Daniel Bethell, until he broke the Englishman.
    While SL3 refers to gamers with standing or decrease limb or minor impairments, SL4 has gamers with extra extreme impairments.
    Down 4-11 within the second recreation at Tokyo, with the match drifting away seemingly right into a decider, Bhagat would go into what Kadam calls his Dhoni mode. “He keeps unreally calm, never reacts and enjoys these situations where he has to make up leads,” he says, of the 2009, ’15 and ’19 world champ.
    Bhagat retains it easy: “I just tell myself I’m the best. Chill.” It’s what he instructed himself each time he stepped onto the court docket — at Attabira in Odisha, the place he took to badminton, considering the outside court docket a stroll within the park, regardless of the polio-afflicted left leg dragging his actions; when he realised what acute poverty meant, with a pair adopting him and inspiring him to play each sport; and when after three world singles titles, he discovered himself in a Paralympic remaining, desirous to cap a profession with absolutely the gold.
    Bhagat would kickstart India’s journey in badminton’s debut on the Paralympics, with the nation anticipating three extra medals, together with gold from Noida District Magistrate Suhas LY and Krishna Nagar, Sunday.
    Manish Narwal received India’s third gold medal Saturday in P4 Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 occasion (arm impairment to lesser extent) whereas Singhraj Adhana introduced up a 1-2 end within the occasion, with a silver. Manoj Sarkar bagged the bronze behind Bhagat in SL3.
    Shooter Avani Lakhera will even intention to match Joginder Singh’s file of three medals in a single Paralympics Sunday.
    India is already properly previous its finest ever Paralympics efficiency, with 17 medals, together with 4 golds, and is twenty sixth on the medal desk.
    Kadam recollects the time spent with the newly minted champion, whom he discovered with out airs and with a dramatic sense of humour, peppering badminton analyses with film strains. “He sleeps very few hours. He is constantly into badminton, and loves the sport, philosophising on it. “Neend raat bhar kyun nahin aati… Pehle aati thi haal-e-dil pe hansi, ab kisi baat pe nahin aati (Why can’t I sleep all night… Earlier I was able to laugh at the predicament of my heart, but now I am unable to laugh at anything)” — unable to sleep one night time in Tokyo, this Mirza Ghalib couplet is what Bhagat would textual content his Academy mates.

    On Saturday although, he would goof about on the medal ceremony, after pulling off the silent heist with an 11-point rally. “Point by point,” he would say later of his meticulous accumulation of winners, inducing errors within the opponent.
    Bhagat has coached in colleges, riffed inspiration from the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, after whose retirement he stopped watching cricket, and tweaked his 10 items of prosthetics to get the precise one to help him after his ankle bent outward. “He is like a scientist with his left leg prosthetic. He keeps making minute changes on it. Number of shoe pairs = 4. Number of prosthetics = 10,” Kadam says.
    Not an attacking participant, obsessive about profitable and summoning strokes cannily from his huge bouquet, Bhagat would web India’s historic medal mistaken footing Bethell, who stopped again slightly considering the shuttle would journey additional, however the Indian looped it shut. “He is very creative in strokes. There is a deception manoeuvre he aces — primes to play a toss, but drops his racquet with a zap, connecting with shuttle at knee level to confuse his rival,” Kadam says. “But it’s his legendary calm. He is never panicky. This gold was about years of patience and sudden acceleration,” he says in regards to the 34-year-old.
    Soon after the medal, Bhagat would inform Kadam in a quick name how he imagined the scenes of his well-wishers celebrating. He was chuckling how it might be in India, although deep down he would dedicate the medal to his organic and adoptive mother and father who raised him. “He lost his mother at the start of the pandemic. Then Tokyo got cancelled and he was depressed. But then badminton rescued him,” Kadam says.

    Bhagat likes excesses carefully. “He will live on fruits for days, and go to McDonald’s and have three large French fries. He loves sweets, kaju katli. So to compensate for the cheat meals once in a blue moon, he eats very little otherwise,” Kadam says, of the eccentric technique to his insanity.
    Bhagat can be recognized to inform juniors that stadiums don’t matter. “They are just places where you have to win. Drift, conditions are all tamed if you focus on winning,” he recollects. He received’t overlook Tokyo in a rush although.

  • Winning first badminton gold for India is a second to cherish: Pramod Bhagat

    Reigning world champion Bhagat beat Bethell 21-14 21-17 within the summit conflict. Another Indian, Manoj Kumar received the bronze after beating Daisuke Fujihara within the third place play-off.
    With badminton making its debut on the Paralympics this 12 months, Bhagat, the present world No. 1, thus turned the primary Indian to win a gold medal within the sport.
    “This is a very proud moment for me. I’m representing the Indian badminton community and India as a whole,” Bhagat stated after profitable the gold.
    “This is the first time that para badminton is appearing in the Paralympics and winning the first gold medal for India is a moment to cherish for me,” stated 33-year-old from Odisha.
    Bhagat, who had contracted polio when he was 4 years previous, thus avenged his loss to Bethell on the Japan Para Badminton International in November 2019.
    “I performed the identical opponent in Japan two years in the past and I misplaced. That was a studying alternative for me.
    “Today it was the same stadium and the same environment, and I devised a strategy to win. I was very determined.”
    On his technique, Bhagat stated, “I just focused on playing the shuttle on each and every point rather than on winning the whole game. Every point was precious.”
    Bhagat additionally stays in competition for a bronze medal in combined doubles SL3-SU5 class. He and his associate Palak Kohli will sq. off towards Japanese pair of Daisuke Fujihara and Akiko Sugino within the bronze medal play off on Sunday.
    They had misplaced the semifinals 3-21 15-21 to Indonesian mixture of Hary Susanto and Leani Ratri Oktila earlier within the day.
    Bhagat picked up the sports activities after watching his neighbours play. Initially, he competed towards able-bodied gamers earlier than moving into aggressive para badminton in 2006.
    He ultimately emerged as probably the greatest para shuttlers within the nation with 45 worldwide medals underneath his belt, together with 4 world championship gold medals and a gold and a bronze in 2018 Asian Para Games.
    He additionally had began his profession as a badminton coach however took a break in 2019 to deal with Tokyo Paralympics qualification.
    In 2019, he obtained the Arjuna Award and Biju Patnaik Award for Excellence in Sports in India.

  • ‘Amazing, remarkable’: Pramod Bhagat baggage historic badminton gold at Paralympics

    With the win, the 33-year-old turned the primary Indian to win a gold medal within the sport.
    Bhagat additionally stays in rivalry for a bronze medal in blended doubles SL3-SU5 class. He and his associate Palak Kohli will sq. off in opposition to Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara and Akiko Sugino within the bronze medal play-off on Sunday.

    A dominant #Gold medal for #IND 🔥 💪
    World No. 1⃣ Pramod Bhagat overcomes a second set deficit to win 21-14, 21-17 in opposition to #GBR‘s Daniel Bethell in the #ParaBadminton Men’s Singles SL3 Final!
    India’s 2nd 🥇medal of the day! 😍#Tokyo2020 #Paralympics @PramodBhagat83 pic.twitter.com/UnmkTecHrE
    — #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) September 4, 2021

    Pramod Bhagat has received the hearts of your complete nation. He is a Champion, whose success will inspire thousands and thousands. He confirmed outstanding resilience & willpower. Congratulations to him for profitable the Gold in Badminton. Best needs to him for his future endeavours. @PramodBhagat83
    — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 4, 2021

    G O L D 🥇!
    Pramod Bhagat scripts historical past to bag 1st ever gold medal in Men’s Singles SL3 occasion at #Paralympics
    A outstanding achievement !The 4 time BWF Champion provides a #Paralympics Gold to his title#Cheer4India #Praise4Para pic.twitter.com/qZ77Bf8gJA
    — Anurag Thakur (@ianuragthakur) September 4, 2021

    India’s season of firsts continues! This time in badminton!! World no.1 @PramodBhagat83 turns into India’s first shuttler to win a Gold medal in Paralympics or Olympics. Cannot be prouder! Many congratulations on a dominating show, champ! #Praise4Para #Tokyo2020
    — Abhinav A. Bindra OLY (@Abhinav_Bindra) September 4, 2021

    Alchemists’ Day! #Gold , solely theres no magic right here, however sheer grit and exhausting work! @PramodBhagat83 you’ve got lived upto expectation and rising to the event is maybe the perfect half! Take a bow. #ParaBadminton #Paralympics @IndiaSports activities @ParalympicIndia @Media_SAI
    — Joydeep Karmakar OLY (@Joydeep709) September 4, 2021

    So wonderful and satisfying second for all of us. Congratulations 👏 https://t.co/jqizkceP2Z
    — M C Mary Kom OLY (@MangteC) September 4, 2021

    Big huge congratulations to u @PramodBhagat83 for profitable the gold medal 🥇🇮🇳🇮🇳👏… #Badminton #TokyoParalympics 👍 pic.twitter.com/jB0sBaBczf
    — Saina Nehwal (@NSaina) September 4, 2021

    Congratulations @PramodBhagat83 🥇🥇🥇 #Paralympics #Tokyo2020 #Cheer4India https://t.co/elz7TBfSeG
    — Parupalli Kashyap (@parupallik) September 4, 2021

  • Praveen Kumar: Jumping over discrimination with Paralympic silver

    When excessive jumper Praveen Kumar was making an attempt to get right of entry to Delhi University a few years again, he was denied a spot within the sports activities trials “because he was differently-abled”. The authorities suggested him and his mentor Dr Satyapal SIngh, a specialised para coach, to use by the differently-abled quota, assuring them of an “easier” path to school admission.
    But Praveen, who bagged a silver medal (T-64) with a finest soar of two.07m on the Tokyo Paralympics on Friday, and his coach felt it was grossly unfair and stood their floor.

    Many congratulations to #PraveenKumar on profitable the #Silver for 🇮🇳 & additionally setting an Asian Record within the course of within the Men’s T44 class excessive soar.
    #Praise4Para #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics #ParaAthletics pic.twitter.com/3zhl7auHVS
    — Amit Saroha (@AmitParalympian) September 3, 2021
    “I made calls to top officials in the university and requested to at least allow Praveen to take part in the trials. They reluctantly agreed,” remembers Satyapal.
    Praveen, competing in opposition to non-disabled athletes, completed second within the trials and bagged a spot within the Bachelors of Arts course by the sports activities quota. But it wasn’t the primary event when the 18-year-old from Jewar in Uttar Pradesh had been neglected for being completely different.
    When Praveen was in Class 9, he had enrolled within the excessive soar competitors of a school-level sports activities meet and was outrightly denied entry. “My son came home heartbroken. I called up the sports in-charge and was told my son didn’t stand a chance since it was an open category event. I requested him to give Praveen a chance at least,” father Amarpal, who works within the UP authorities’s irrigation division, says.
    Praveen not solely competed however gained a gold medal on the meet. “Bas wahin se shuruat hui hai (Thus began his journey in athletics). And the result is in front of you today,” says the proud father. Praveen had a modest upbringing in Govindgarh village of Jewar, a couple of two-hour journey from Central Delhi. The final half hour was taken to cowl only a five-kilometre stretch from the principle city to his village because the roads are slender and in dire want of restore. The district has been in information as the location of a brand new airport that’s going to come back up and the financial advantages for the farmers who gave up their lands for the undertaking.
    But Praveen’s village is kind of a ways from the proposed airport, preserving it at arm’s size from any attainable financial profit ensuing from the brand new building. Govindgarh’s residents, particularly the kids, hope Praveen’s medal will push authorities to assemble a stadium within the neighborhood.
    “Everyone’s crazy about sports here. But the nearest athletics stadium is in Delhi,” says Praveen’s buddy Sumit who’s getting ready for Army trials.
    The legends of Praveen
    Praveen Kumar’s mother and father in Jewar. (Express Photo)
    At Govindgarh, Praveen has been a family identify lengthy earlier than he grew to become knowledgeable athlete. His mates by no means tire of narrating tales of his prowess in sports activities, particularly on the volleyball courtroom.
    “No one is even half as good as him in volleyball. Khade khade humare upar se kood jata tha (He would leap over us with ease),” says Sumit earlier than including, “there wasn’t a sport that he wasn’t great at. Cricket, volleyball, kabbadi… He was and is the best among us.”
    Mother Nirdosh Devi says Praveen had this fascination with leaping. “He would go to the terrace and jump for hours. All day long, he would try to leap and touch the roof,” she says pointing to the ceiling which regarded a superb 10 foot excessive.
    Coach’s course correction
    When Amarpal noticed his son beat his non-disabled opponents in junior meets with ease, he realised he was a particular expertise. They someway received maintain of coach Satyapal, a widely known identify within the athletics circuit.
    “His jump was not that great but I chose to train him because of the explosiveness he had,” says Satyapal over cellphone from Tokyo. The greatest problem when Satyapal took Praveen beneath his wings in September 2018 was to vary his soar from the straddle approach to the Fosbury Flop approach, which all athletes on the worldwide circuit make use of.
    “There was no choice and the time at hand was limited. It takes three years to just learn the technique,” says Satyapal. Praveen was hit with Covid as properly and that was an enormous setback too.
    “We did the best we could and he not only learnt a new technique but was able to bag a Paralympics silver. My faith and trust in him have paid off,” says the proud coach.

  • Tokyo Paralympics: Harvinder Singh wins bronze, India’s first archery medal

    Harvinder Singh on Friday notched up India’s first ever archery medal within the Paralympics, holding his nerves to down Kim Min Su of Korea in an exciting shoot-off for the boys’s particular person recurve bronze within the ongoing Games.
    World No.23 Singh was the primary athlete from India to win a gold medal at a significant para competitors within the 2018 Asian Games.
    An economics scholar from the Punjabi University, Patiala, Singh collected three shoot-off wins on the day beginning along with his triumphs within the opening rounds.
    In the bronze playoff, the 31-year-old was main 5-3 earlier than the Kroean clinched the fifth set capturing an ideal 10 to pressure a shoot-off the place the Indian responded in fashion capturing an ideal 10 towards Kim’s 8 for a 6-5 (26-24, 27-29, 28-25, 25-25, 26-27) (10-8) win.
    In the semifinals, Singh misplaced to world quantity 10 Kevin Mather of the USA 6-4 in an intense five-setter (25-28, 24-24, 25-25, 25-24, 24-26).
    Singh, who hails from a small village Guhla Cheeka close to Kaithal in Haryana, was stretched to the fullest within the first two rounds, however he confirmed large resilience to beat his fancied opponents through shoot-offs.
    In the primary spherical of 32, Singh squandered a 4-0 lead towards Stefano Travisani after capturing a 7 within the third set as his Italian rival made it 5-5 (27-24, 26-22, 26-27, 25-25, 25-27) to pressure a shoot-off.
    Singh clinched the difficulty — 6-5 (10-7) — in fashion, capturing an ideal 10 within the tie-breaker as his rival managed only a 7.
    In the last-16, Singh pipped former world primary Bato Tsydendorzhiev of Russia, as soon as once more by the thinnest of margins 6-5 (8-7).
    Singh effected a spectacular turnaround from 0-4 all the way down to carry the match on a good keel 5-5 (26-28, 23-26, 29-26, 23-21, 28-28) and pressure a shoot-off the place he edged out his Russian opponent 8-7.
    In the quarters, Singh swept apart 49-year-old three-time Paralympian Maik Szarszewski of Germany 6-2 (25-21, 28-23, 25-28, 26-23) dropping only one set.
    Hailing from a middle-class farming household, Singh had dengue when he was simply one-and-half years previous and a neighborhood physician administered him an injection that had an opposed impact and his legs stopped working correctly.

  • Mariyappan Thangavelu leaps to silver however says ‘rain & poor ground conditions spoiled his golden take-off’

    Mariyappan Thangavelu settled for silver within the males’s excessive bounce T42/T63 class after recording a bounce of 1.86m on the Tokyo Paralympics on Tuesday. However, needing to breach the mark of 1.88m for the yellow metallic, Mariyappan struggled to clear the peak as USA’s Sam Grewe breached the mark to bag the gold.
    “I expected a gold but the ground condition at the Tokyo National stadium caused a problem for me. At one point during the competition, there was heavy rain and that caused difficulty because I was wearing socks ( on the impaired leg) which got wet,” Mariyappan informed the indianexpress.com from Tokyo.

    #IND have received extra @ParaAthletics medals at #Tokyo2020 than at any earlier Paralympic Games 👏
    Two arrived within the males’s excessive bounce – T63 alone…#Silver – Mariyappan Thangavelu #Bronze – Sharad Kumar
    Congratulations to @TeamUSA‘s Sam Grewe, who took the #gold #Paralympics pic.twitter.com/AsixouBG1W
    — Paralympic Games (@Paralympics) August 31, 2021
    “Hence, at the point of take-off, I could not adjust properly. My mind got a bit disturbed,” Mariyappan defined.
    Mariyappan’s coach, R Satyanarayana claimed that had the climate been good then clearing 1.88m wouldn’t be an issue for his ward.
    “Last month he jumped 1.98m in SAI Bangalore. In Rio 2016, he had jumped 1.89m,” reminded Satyanarayana.
    It was Satyanarayana who noticed Mariyappan’s expertise on the 2013 National Para-Athletics Championship and took him up for coaching on the Sports Academy of India (SAI) heart for differently-abled in Bengaluru. Incidentally, Mariyappan needed to grow to be a volleyball participant however took up the excessive bounce on the insistence of his highschool bodily training trainer. Within only a 12 months and a half of coaching, he grew to become World No. 1 in 2015 and as they are saying, there was no wanting again from that time.
    Mariyappan additionally mentioned that he was upset when he had to surrender the position of the Indian contingent’s flag-bearer throughout the opening ceremony. He was in shut contact with a COVID-positive fellow passenger throughout the flight to Tokyo.
    “I was a bit disturbed but my coach kept me motivated. The quarantine was particularly difficult for me,” mentioned the Padma Shri and Khel Ratna awardee who suffered everlasting incapacity in his proper leg after it was crushed underneath a bus when he was solely 5.
    Meanwhile, after his medal-winning efficiency, PM Modi had a phrase of encouragement for the 26-year-old. “PM sir called me after the event and congratulated me in Tamil. I am happy that he is encouraging us like this,” mentioned the silver-medallist.

    Soaring greater and better!
    Mariyappan Thangavelu is synonymous with consistence and excellence. Congratulations to him for profitable the Silver Medal. India is happy with his feat. @189thangavelu #Paralympics #Praise4Para pic.twitter.com/GGhtAgM7vU
    — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 31, 2021
    Meanwhile, the coronavirus-induced lockdown brought on plenty of issues for athletes throughout the globe however for Mariyappan it was the opposite approach spherical.
    “It truly labored for him as a result of he was completely disconnected with the general public and that helped him focus and focus higher, mentioned coach Satyanarayana.
    Mariyappan Thangavelu failed along with his first two jumps at 1.86m however was profitable along with his third try.
    Lauding the trouble of Mariyappan, bronze medallist Sharad Kumar mentioned, “I hope our success becomes the catalyst for the continued growth of para-athletics in India and para-athletes get the much-needed support from the government and the private sector as well.”

  • I couldn’t give my finest because of rain: Mariayappan Thangavelu after profitable silver

    Mariayappan Thangavelu on Tuesday rued that rain foiled his bid for a second consecutive gold medal on the Paralympics, saying the moist sock didn’t let him give his finest within the T42 occasion.
    After clearing 1.86m, Mariyappan and Sam Grewe twice struggled to clear 1.88m peak however the American lastly bagged gold medal by hovering over the mark within the ultimate try whereas the Indian couldn’t and settled for silver.
    Mariayappan, who hails from Periavadagampatti village in Salem district of Tamil Nadu, had cleared 1.89m when he received the gold in 2016 Rio Paralympics.
    He stated he couldn’t obtain the goal he had set for himself.
    “I could have won gold and claimed the world record (1.96m). I came here with that aim. But the rain played spoilsport. It was a drizzle initially but after the 1.80m mark, it became heavy,” Mariyappan stated after his occasion.
    “The sock on my other leg (the impaired right leg) got wet and it was difficult to jump,” stated the athlete who suffered everlasting incapacity in his proper leg after it was crushed underneath a bus when he was solely 5.
    Mariyappan, who labored as newspaper hawker between 2012 and 2015 to assist his mom Saroja, stated the climate in Rio in 2016 was nice and just like India however it was not so in Tokyo.
    “I could not execute my plan here. I could have cleared 1.90m had it not been the weather conditions. I will try for gold and world record in Paris 2024,” he stated.
    His coach Satyanarayana, who noticed him in 2015 and moulded him as a Paralympics champion, stated Mariyappan was clearing 1.90m simply throughout coaching and even touched 1.99m in Para Nationals.
    “Weather was the reason why he failed in clearing 1.88m. It is three years from now (for 2024 Paris Olympics). He will win gold there,” stated Satyanarayana, who can be nationwide Para Athletics chairman and nationwide coach.
    A prime of the rostrum end would have made Mariyappan the primary Indian to win back-to-back gold medals in Paralympics.
    Javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia, who clinched a silver in F46 occasion, had received two gold medals however there was an interval of 12 yr.
    Mariyappan additionally stated that he was affected mentally when he had to surrender the position of Indian contingent’s flag bearer through the opening ceremony. He was recognized as a detailed contact of a participant of one other nation through the flight to Tokyo and was remoted.
    “Yes, it was very upsetting that I could not become the flag bearer. Moreover, I had to get isolated and also train alone because of quarantine rules,” he stated.