Yogesh Kathuniya of India won a silver medal in the men’s discus throw F56, finishing second with a distance of 44.38 in the final at the Tokyo Paralympic Games here on Monday.
Brazil’s Santos doe Claudiney Batista bagged the gold with a new Paralympic Games record of 45.59 while Cuba’s Leonardo Alandana Diaz took bronze with a best throw of 43.36.
Kathuniya, the 24-year-old from Delhi who suffered a paralytic attack at the age of eight which resulted in impaired coordination in his limbs, was in gold medal position till Batista achieved 44.57 in his first throw as the seventh athlete in order of throws.
Kathuniya ranked World No. 2 in his category, lived up to the billing with a superb showing in the final of the Tokyo Paralympics. Kathuniya was leading the event for the most part of it before Rio Paralympics gold medalist Batista dos Santos stepped up and set a new Paralympics record with a throw of 45.59m. It was enough for the Brazilian to win gold as Kathuniya slipped to the silver medal position.
In Standing or Seated Discus Throw, each participant makes all his/her six throws at one go before the next participant in the order gets his chance.
Kathuniya started the big final with a foul but he channeled his nervous energy to come up with a throw of 42.84m in his second attempt. After a couple more invalid throws, Kathuniya improved his mark to 43.55m. He came with the silver-medal winning throw of 44.38m in his final attempt.
The Brazilian produced his best effort of 45.59 in his sixth and last throw to set a Paralympic Games record.
Kathuniya, who achieved his season’s best on Monday had to be satisfied with silver as the Brazilian is the world record holder in this category with a best of 46.58.
Yogesh Kathuniya’s medal is also India’s 4th confirmed medal at the Tokyo Paralympics. With the medal, India has already matched its best-ever Paralympics medal tally from 1984 and 2016.