World Para Athletics GP: Nishad Kumar wins gold in high jump, Praveen Kumar creates new Asian record
Pranav Desai wins gold and silver in 200m and 100m respectively
Nishad Kumar clinched the gold medal in high jump (T46) by clearing 2.06m at the 12th Fazza Championships World Para Athletics Grand Prix 2021 in Dubai.
The impressive performance also helped him vault to world number 2 ranking. He trains at the SAI (Sports Authority of India) facilities in Bengaluru.
In November 2019, he secured a berth in the Tokyo Paralympics by claiming bronze at the World Para Athletics Championships at the same venue.
High jumper Praveen Kumar also won gold with a leap of 2.05m ( T42/44/64) and thereby set a new Asian record.
The 17-year-old has already sealed a spot for the Tokyo Games. Though Kumar missed the bronze medal marginally at 2019 Junior World Para Athletics Championships, his fourth-place finish was enough to claim a qualification for the Paralympics.
Meanwhile, Sharad Kumar won the silver medal in the same category in Dubai.
Sprinter Pranav Desai (T-64) had a brilliant outing as he won gold and silver in 200m and 100m respectively.
He achieved a timing of 24.96s in 200m and 11.76s in 100m, which was his personal best in both events. He trains under Nilesh Patkar at the Thane's Dadoji Konddeo Stadium.
“From March to September last year Pranav couldn’t train. What he has achieved is from the training we managed after September," Patkar told The Times of India.
“When Pranav came to me, I did not know what he was capable of doing. But he did well in events for normal people, reaching the finals of both the sprints," he added.
Patkar helped him raise money through crowdfunding so that Pranav could go to Dubai and get a classification. He has 73 per cent disability and is the first Indian from his handicap classification to win medals in sprint. This is the second international meet after he attended the Para-Asiad two years ago. He is yet to secure his place for Tokyo Paralympics.