Paralympics: Kathuniya wins silver in men’s Discus throw F56

Paris: India’s Yogesh Kathuniya clinched his second consecutive Paralympic silver medal in men’s discus throw F-56 event with a season’s best effort 42.22m at the ongoing Games here on Monday.

The 27-year-old hurled the discus to the podium-clinching distance in his very first attempt to add to the silver he won in the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago.

Brazil’s Claudiney Batista dos Santos registered a hat-trick of Paralympic gold medals, creating a new Games record with an effort of 46.86m in his fifth attempt.

Greece’s Konstantinos Tzounis won the bronze with 41.32m.

The F-56 classification covers limb deficiency, leg length difference, impaired muscle power and impaired range of movement.

At the age of 9, Kathuniya developed the Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare autoimmune condition which causes numbness, tingling and muscle weakness that can progress to paralysis.

He was bound to the wheelchair during his childhood but overcame the odds with the help of his mother Meena Devi, who learnt physiotherapy to help him regain muscle strength to walk again. His father has served in the Indian Army. Kathuniya is a commerce graduate from Delhi’s prestigious Kirori Mal College. Besides two Paralympic silver medals, he has three world championship medals, including two silver and a bronze.