World Para Athletics Championships: Shailesh Kumar wins India’s first gold

New Delhi: On a humid Saturday evening, when temperatures soared to 40 degrees celsius, leading para high jumper Shailesh Kumar also rose to new heights by securing India’s first gold medal at the World Para Athletics Championships at the JLN Stadium.Having lost his right leg to polio at the age of five, Kumar did not let his disability limit his ambitions. He serves as an inspiring example for other differently-abled athletes aspiring to reach greater heights in their sporting careers. In the men’s T42/64 high jump finals, Kumar cleared a personal best of 1.91m to shatter both the Championship and Asian records. Another Indian, Varun Singh Bhati, won bronze with a jump of 1.85m. Kumar finished ahead of reigning Paralympic champion, USA’s Ezra Frech, who took silver and appeared disappointed with his effort. Both Frech and Bhati cleared a best height of 1.85m, but the American took second place on countback.Later, Deepthi Jeevanji brought more medal glory with a silver in the final of women’s 400 T20 category. She clocked 55.16s, breaking her previous season best of 58.35s set during the morning qualifying round. At Paris 2024, Deepthi had won bronze, clocking 55.82s.The 25-year-old Kumar, from Bihar’s Islam Nagar village in Jamuj i, was elated after claiming his maiden World gold. “The target was always to win gold. I am happy with my performance and hoping for a better show in the next championship. It was hot and humid in Delhi. We were training in Bengaluru for 6-7 months. It was a little pleasant there. We came here 10 days ago so that our bodies could adapt. The acclimatisation helped. helped in acclimatisation which showed in the result today,” he said.“I used to compete with able-bodied athletes when I was in school. I saw at the 2016 Rio Paralympics that this event is there in my category, so I decided to start competing in para sports,” he said.Rahul, the third Indian in the fray, finished fourth with a personal best effort of 1.78m. Kumar, Bhati and Rahul are T42 athletes who have single above-the-knee amputations or a comparable disability. The T63 classification is for athletes with single through knee or above knee limb deficiency. T63 and T42 athletes can compete together in a single event.Deepthi, who competes in the event meant for athletes with intellectual disabilities, produced her season best effort, but it was not enough to deny Türkiye’s Aysel Onder. Aysel shattered her own world record of 54.96s to win gold with a time of 54.51s.Rakeshbhai Bhatt and Shreyansh Trivedi secured their spots in the finals of the men’s 100m T37 category. Gujarat’s Rakeshbhai finished third in the first heat of Round 1, clocking 11.62s to set a new personal best. Shreyansh Trivedi from Uttar Pradesh claimed second place in Heat 3 of Round 1, also setting a new personal best with a timing of 11.94s.In the men’s shot put F37 finals, India’s Manu finished ninth with a throw of 13.43m, below his personal best of 14.09m. Kanchan Lakhani finished fifth in the women’s discus throw F53 finals with a throw of 9.68m, her season’s best but short of her personal best of 10.06m.