New Delhi, Sep 2
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Nishad Kumar on winning silver medal in the Men's High Jump T47 event at the Paris Paralympics.
The 24-year-old Nishad, who is a reigning Para Asian Games champion, soared to a height of 2.04m in the final, losing the gold medal to the USA's Roderick Townsend. This was Nishad's second Paralympic medal. He won the silver medal at Tokyo Games with a clearance of 2.06m.
"Congrats to @nishad_hj for his remarkable achievement in winning a Silver medal in the Men's High Jump T47 event at the #Paralympics2024! He has shown us all that with passion and determination, everything is possible. India is elated," the Prime Minister posted on X.
"Last Tuesday, I cleared 2.10m in practice, and today I stopped at 2.04. So I am disappointed. I have been losing to (Townsend) in Tokyo (2020 Paralympics), in World Championships, and here at another Olympics, so the silver is not giving me so much joy but pinching at me," said Nishad after the match as quoted by Olympics.com.
"I was so confident, because in training I was consistently doing 2.07, 2.08... Of course I'm disappointed, but God knows why this couldn't happen today," he added.
Nishad's silver was India's seventh medal at the Para Games in Paris and third in athletics. Preethi Pal won bronze medals in the 100m and 200m T35 class events.
The other four medals for India were won in para shooting. Avani Lekhara and Mona Agarwal won gold and bronze, respectively, in the 10m air rifle shooting standing in SH1 class. Manish Narwal (men's 10m air pistol SH1) and Rubina Francis (women's 10m air pistol SH1) won silver and bronze, respectively.