Paralympics high jump champion Praveen Kumar aims for maiden gold at World Para C'ships

New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI) At just 22, Paralympic high jump champion Praveen Kumar is set to make his fourth appearance at the World Para Athletics Championships and aims to win his first-ever gold when the event begins here on Saturday.

Kumar first competed in a world para athletics championships in 2019 at the age of 16 when the showpiece was held in Dubai, and finished fourth in T64 competition, narrowly missing out on a bronze.

T64 event is for athletes with movement moderately affected in one lower leg or the absence of one or both legs below the knee.

He won a bronze in the 2023 edition in Paris and ended fourth again in 2024 in Kobe, Japan.

"This will be my fourth world para athletics championships and I have won a bronze. My aim is to do 2.10m which will be my personal best. With that mark, I think I should win the gold in front of home crowd," Kumar told PTI ahead of the event.

"However, I will be happy with any medal if I do my personal best of 2.10m. Currently, my personal best is 2.08m." Born with a short leg, Kumar hails from Govindgarh village of Jewar tehsil, Gautam Budh Nagar, near here.

He studied at Pragyan Public School, Jewar till 12th standard and pursued graduation at Motilal Nehru College in Delhi. His impairment affects the bones that connect his hip to his left leg.

He said in the 2024 edition an injury hampered his performance, a major reason behind his fourth position with an effort of 1.94m.

"I had an injury in my take-off leg. Because of that, I couldn't jump properly. The injury got healed before Paris Paralympics where I won a gold. Now, by the grace of God, I don't have any injury. So I am focusing on my training.

"This time, I feel things are going well with me. I will try to win gold medal," said Kumar who also won a silver in Tokyo Paralympics in 2021 and a gold in Asian Para Games in 2023.

By his own admission, Kumar is a "stubborn" man though that trait rewarded him on the sporting field. As a child, he brushed aside people reminding him of his physical disability and proved them wrong.

"When I was in 9th grade, I participated in high jump for first time. It was a school sport's day and I won my first gold medal competing against able-bodied athletes. I started moving forward in the sport.

"But in the middle, my teachers stopped me. They said, you are disabled. You shouldn't do sports. They stopped me in many places. But, I thought, why can't I do this? I decided, I want to make a career in sports.

"I am happy to do what I like. I shouldn't regret later that I couldn't do what I wanted." He said his parents supported him through thick and thin during his journey.

"I thought If I don't make it in sports, then I will come to my village and do farming, or whatever my father will get me to do, I will do that.

"I told this to my parents. They said, 'it's okay. Do what you want to do. We are with you. If you have any problem, or if you need anything, just let us know. That will be fine'." He kept on competing with able-bodied athletes before shifting to para sports in 2018.

"I competed in CBSE cluster competition with abled-bodied athletes and won a silver for the first time. Then, I went to play CBSE National School Games and won gold. I shifted to para sports in 2018 and played for India for the first time." He feels the awareness about para sports has completely changed in the last 10 years.

"Devendra Jhajharia won his first Paralympics gold medal in 2004. We didn't know about that. But in 2016, when Jhajharia won another gold medal, many people got to know that Para sports.

"We got 19 medals in Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, we increased the count to 29 in Paris. So, many things have changed. Earlier, people used to think how they can go further in para sports. But now, they don't need to ask anyone. They can directly come and try." PTI PDS PDS AT AT