Nishad Kumar cleared 2.04 metres to win the men’s T47 high jump at the Asian Para Games in Aichi-Nagoya, setting a Games record one day after winning long jump gold. He became the third Indian to take two golds at a single edition.
Nagoya, Japan: Nishad Kumar arrived in Aichi-Nagoya as a two-time Paralympic silver medallist and a world champion, and he spent two days showing why. On Tuesday he added a second gold to his collection in Japan, and a new Games record along with it.
Gold number two in 24 hours
The first gold came on Monday, in the men’s T47 long jump, where he won with 7.11 metres and matched that distance on two attempts in the final. Tuesday belonged to the high jump. Nishad cleared 2.04 metres, a mark recorded as a Games record, to take the T47 title and double his gold tally for the week.
The T47 class covers athletes with an upper-limb impairment. Nishad won Paralympic silver in the high jump at Tokyo and again at Paris, and last year he claimed his first world championship title in the event. The Asian Para Games gold, and the record that came with it, adds a new mark to that résumé.
Joining a short list
The double puts Nishad in rare company. He is the third Indian to win two golds at a single Asian Para Games, after Ankur Dhama and archer Sheetal Devi, who both did it at the previous edition in Hangzhou. Dhama won the men’s 5000m and 1500m in the T11 class, while Sheetal took the women’s individual compound open and the mixed team compound open.
A surge on the athletics track
Nishad’s gold was part of a big day for India’s para athletes. The team won 14 athletics medals on Tuesday, five of them gold, four silver and five bronze, which lifted its athletics total to 20 and left only China, with 23, ahead of it in the discipline.
The golds on the day also included Deepthi Jeevanji’s Games-record win in the 400m T20 and Devender Kumar’s discus victory in a podium sweep. Nishad’s long jump title had already featured in India’s 11-medal opening day.
India’s standing
Across all sports, India’s tally stood at 35 medals after the second day, nine of them gold, 11 silver and 15 bronze, which left the country sixth in the standings. The Games continue in Aichi-Nagoya until 24 October.
Result: Men’s high jump T47, Asian Para Games, Aichi-Nagoya. Gold: Nishad Kumar (India), 2.04 m, Games record. Earlier gold: men’s T47 long jump, 7.11 m.
