Tokyo: Vinod Kumar lost his bronze medal in the men’s discus throw final F52 at the Tokyo Paralympics on Monday. The decision was taken by the Tokyo Paralympic technical representatives, who stated that the Indian para athlete did not qualify for the discus F52 category.
An official statement was released in this regard, which stated: “Following re-assessment by the classification panel,athlete Vinod Kumar is ineligible for the Men’s F52 Discus medal event and his results in that competition are void.”
“Following re-assessment by the classification panel,athlete #VinodKumar is ineligible for the Men’s F52 Discus medal event and his results in that competition are void”: Tokyo Paralympics Official communication #ParalympicsTokyo2020 #Paralympics https://t.co/HoGQByYlyR pic.twitter.com/Jmqce1PC46
— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) August 30, 2021
Vinod had secured the bronze medal after recording at 19.91m, his best throw in the fifth attempt. He finished third behind Piotr Kosewicz (20.02m) of Poland and Velimir Sandor (19.98m) of Croatia.
As per a report in PTI, Vinod’s classification in F52, which is for athletes with impaired muscle power, restricted range of movement, limb deficiency or leg length difference, was done on August 22 by the organisers.
Earlier in the day, shooter Avani Lekhara created history by becoming the first Indian female to bag a Paralympics gold medal. Avani won the women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 title defeating China’s Zhang Cuiping (silver) and Ukraine’s Iryna Shchetnik (bronze).
Avani also equalled the current WR to win the women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 category with her gold medal-winning performance in Tokyo. The 19-year-old finished with a world record equalling total of 249.6, which is also a new Paralympic record.
