Paris 2024 Paralympics: Sharad Kumar wins silver medal in high jump, Mariyappan Thangavelu bags bronze

India’s Sharad Kumar and Mariyappan Thangavelu won the silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the men’s high jump T63 class at the Paris 2024 Paralympics on Tuesday.

The 32-year-old Sharad Kumar soared to a height of 1.88m in the final, losing the gold medal to the USA’s Ezra Frech, who cleared 1.94m for a new Paralympic record. This was Sharad Kumar's second Paralympic medal. He won the bronze medal at Tokyo 2020 with a clearance of 1.83m.

“That was an amazing competition. All the athletes pushed each other to perform to the best, especially Ezra and myself," Sharad said. “This was the toughest competition I have faced in my life. It was the greatest event I have ever attended."

The high jump final had athletes from both the T63 and T42 categories. Both classes have limb deficiencies in their legs, such as amputations or missing or shortened limbs from birth.

Sharad Kumar contracted polio at the age of two while Mariyappan Thangavelu's life took a tragic turn at five when a bus ran over him in a road accident, leaving him permanently disabled in the right leg. The two Indian athletes are part of the T42 sports class.

Mariyappan Thangavelu, with a height of 1.85m, won the bronze medal. He also achieved the historic feat of becoming the first Indian para-athlete to win medals at three consecutive Games. He won the gold medal at Rio 2016 with a jump of 1.89m and silver at Tokyo 2020 with a 1.86m attempt.

These two medals lifted India's medal count at the Paris 2024 Paralympics to an unprecedented 20, surpassing their previous best of 19 medals at Tokyo 2020.

India also went past the milestone of 50 medals in the Paralympics, with the current count standing at 51 as of Tuesday.

This was also India’s fourth double podium at the Paris 2024 Games. Earlier in the day, the men's javelin throw F46 final saw Ajeet Singh win silver and Sundar Singh Gurjar clinch a bronze.

Avani Lekhara and Mona Agarwal won gold and bronze medals, respectively, in SH1 shooting while Thulasimathi Murugesan and Manisha Ramadass won silver and bronze medals, respectively, in badminton SU5 class.