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Discus thrower Vinod Kumar won a bronze medal and set an Asian record in the men's discus throw F52 event at the Tokyo Paralympics 2021 on Sunday. The 41-year-old registered throws of 17.46m, 18.32m, 17.80m, 19.12m, 19.91m, 19.81m in his six attempts and his best throw (19.91m) was taken into account.
Poland’s Piotr Kosewicz became the Paralympic champion with a throw of 20.02m in his second attempt, while Croatia’s Velimir Sandor won silver with a 19.98m throw.
The bronze medal will be a big life-changer for Vinod Kumar, who used to run a small grocery store near the Rajiv Gandhi Sports Complex in Rohtak, Haryana.
Prior to that, a desire to be a part of the country's armed forces led him to join the Border Security Forces (BSF) after finishing his education. Unfortunately, he fell off a cliff in 2002 during his training period in Leh and severely injured his legs. He was bedridden for close to 10 years, during which time he also lost both his parents.
In 2016, Vinod Kumar was inspired by Deepa Malik, who created history by becoming the first Indian woman to clinch a Paralympic medal.
Vinod Kumar's bronze capped off triple-medal haul for India on Day 5 of Paralympics 2021
Vinod Kumar's achievement rounded off India’s fifth day at the Paralympics on a high note as the country won two silvers and a bronze.
Earlier, Nishad Kumar won a silver medal in the high jump event. He jumped to a height of 2.06m to finish second. Bhavina Patel won India's second silver after losing the gold medal match 0-3 against China’s Zhou Ying.
Bhavina became the first table tennis player ever to win a Paralympic medal for India and the second female athlete after Paralympic Committee of India president Deepa Malik to achieve this feat. Deepa won silver at Rio 2016 in women's shot put.
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