WPAC 2025: Yogesh Kathuniya secures silver in men's discus F56 event

New Delhi, Sep 30 (IANS) India's two-time Paralympic medallist Yogesh Kathuniya secured the silver medal in the men’s discus throw F56 event at the World Para Athletics Championships 2025 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Monday.

The 28-year-old, who bagged the silver in the 2020 and 2025 Paralympics, registered the best effort of 42.49m, which came in his second attempt, to finish behind 2012 and 2016 Paralympic medalist Claudiney Batista, whose best effort of 45.67m won him a gold medal. Meanwhile, Greece’s Konstantinos Tzounis finished third with a throw of 39.97m.

This is Yogesh’s third successive silver medal in the world championships, after already winning it in the 2023 and 2024 editions in France and Japan, respectively.

Interestingly, at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, Kathuniya captured the silver medal behind Brazil’s Batista. At the 2023 Para Athletics World Championships in Paris, he again took silver, behind the Brazilian, to add a world medal to his Paralympic success.

Kathuniya, who developed a rare neurological condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome when he was nine years old, took up Para sports in 2017 when he was at college.

This is India’s sixth medal in the competition so far - two gold, three silver and one bronze.

On Monday, Rinku Hooda and Sundar Singh Gurjar won the gold and silver medals, respectively, in the men’s javelin throw F46 class.

En route to his gold medal, Rinku, 26, broke the World Para Athletics Championships record with his opening-round throw of 63.81m. The previous championship record of 61.89m was set by China’s Guo Chunliang in 2015.

Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 bronze medallist Sundar, who won the gold medal at the 2023 Asian Para Games with a world record of 68.60m, registered his best throw of 64.76m in his fifth attempt to finish behind Rinku. The night could have been even better for the hosts if Ajeet Singh had had a good day. Unfortunately, he finished fourth.

Earlier, Shailesh Kumar and Varun Singh Bhati clinched a gold and a silver, respectively, in the men’s high jump T63, while Deepthi Jeevanji clinched a silver in the women’s 400m T20 event.

--IANS

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