High jumper Praveen Kumar upgraded his Tokyo silver to a gold with a record-smashing performance, helping India nose ahead of the likes of Korea and Switzerland in the overall standings as the country’s para-athletes continued to defy projections in their best ever Paralympic performance here.
Later in the evening, Hokato Hotozhe Sema claimed the bronze medal with a personal best effort of 14.65m in the men’s shot put F57 final to end the day for India on a positive note.
The other Indian participant in the shot put final, Soman Rana ended fifth with a best throw of 14.07m.
Employed with the Indian Army and currently based in Pune, the Dimapur-born Sema started with 13.88m before touching 14.00m. He followed that with 14.40m, 14.65m, 14.15m and 13.80m.
Sema, 40, became involved in the sport after he lost his left leg in a landmine blast during a military operation in 2002.
The F57 category is for field athletes who compete while seated and have limb deficiencies or other impairments that don’t fit into other classes.
Earlier, the 21-year-old Praveen from Noida, who was born with a short leg, jumped to a new Asian record of 2.08m in the T64 category, which also featured athletes of T44 classification.