India’s Nishad Kumar felt agonizingly short of winning the gold medal in the men’s high jump T47 class at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. The 24-year-old covered a distance of 2.04m, losing to USA’s Roderick Townsend (2.12m). With this, Kumar managed to bag his second Paralympic medal after he won a silver during the Tokyo Paralympics 2020 with a 2.06m jump.
Notably, in the gold medal matches of both editions (2020 and 2024), Townsend and Kumar finished with gold and silver medals respectively. Three years ago, the USA player etched a world record with his 2.15m jump. Coming back to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, Townsend and Kumar were seen sharing a moment after their respective wins. The star USA player was seen consoling the Indian counterpart, picture of which has been going viral on social media.
Notably, Townsend has been an arch-nemesis for Kumar. Apart from the 2020 and 2024 Paralympic Games, Townsend has defeated Kumar in the 2023 and 2024 World Championship. The two players feature in the T47 category at the Summer Paralympic Games, which is for athletes with unilateral upper limb impairment resulting in some loss of function at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist.
Silver medal is pinching me: Nishad Kumar
After missing out on the gold medal, Kumar said that he did well in the practice session in comparison to the match. “Last Tuesday, I cleared 2.10m in practice, and today I stopped at 2.04. So I am disappointed,” Nishad said. “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,” he continued.
Meanwhile, the Indians Prime Minister, Narendra Modi took to X and congratulated Kumar for his back-to-back medals at the Paralympic Games. “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,” he wrote.