Praveen Kumar had to fight more than his rivals to win gold at the Asian Para Games. The reigning Paralympic champion was dealing with a hip injury that had affected his jumping form for months. He was also battling fever, cold and cough during the competition in Japan.Despite these challenges, Praveen cleared 2.05m to win the men’s high jump T44/64 gold medal with a Games record on Wednesday. His jump also bettered the previous Asian Para Games record of 1.95m in the T44 category. Banti won silver with a personal best of 1.92m, while Uzbekistan’s Temurbek Giyazov took bronze with 1.86m.
Praveen fights illness to win gold
Praveen was not at his best physically when he competed at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletics Stadium. He had contracted a viral fever a few days after arriving in Japan and had been struggling with fever and a cough for most of the week.He even vomited and suffered coughing spells between attempts. However, he continued competing and secured his second successive Asian Para Games title.“With the fever, cold and cough, training here became a difficult task, but I continued with short breaks. While my body felt fine during the final, my first jump gave me a severe headache. The mucus from my blocked nose and throat was also troubling me. I wanted to better my Asian Para Games record, and to achieve that in such a condition is a special feeling for me,” Kumar tells The Indian Express.
How a hip injury affected his jumping
Praveen had already proved himself on the biggest stage. At the Paris Paralympics, he won gold with a career-best jump of 2.08m, improving on the silver medal he won at the Tokyo Paralympics. His 2.08m jump remains the Asian record.However, a hip injury slowed his progress after that success. He won bronze at the World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi last September, clearing 2.00m despite the injury.The problem continued to affect his performances, and he could not cross the 2.05m mark in the months that followed. A jump of 2.03m on the national circuit two months ago gave him hope that he was getting back to his best.Praveen was born with a deformity in his left leg. The hip injury made it harder for him to generate the power needed to take off during a jump.“I suffered a ligament tear in my hip last year, which meant I could not generate enough power from the hip during take-off. When I planted my right knee to jump, my hip would hurt a lot and I could not generate the lift. The first focus was to recover, followed by jumping exercises to strengthen the hip muscles and short sprints to build strength in my left leg. Not having a jump close to 2.05m was a bit demotivating, but I knew I had to recover and train fully to regain my old form,” Kumar says.
The learning
Praveen first learnt about high jump by watching videos online. He has been training under coach Satyapal Singh since 2018. When the injury disrupted his progress, the coach focused on helping him stay positive while rebuilding strength in his hip.“Praveen’s strength has always been his smooth take-off and clearance in the Fosbury Flop technique. While able-bodied high jumpers have to bend the non-leading knee during take-off, his deformity in the left leg means he does not have to worry about that aspect. He had good speed on the runway even at a young age and was also good at running the curve. His back-leaning position and flexibility during clearance were always good, and we only had to improve them with time,” Singh said.“He is a short high jumper, but he compensates for that disadvantage with almost perfect technique. After the injury, I knew rebuilding strength in his hip would take time, but I kept reminding him of his best jumps. I did not want him to think negatively,” he said.
Who is Praveen Kumar’s inspiration?
With another Asian Para Games gold medal secured, Praveen has already started thinking about the next big challenge: defending his Paralympic title at the Los Angeles Games.One athlete he continues to learn from is Canadian high jumper Derek Drouin, who won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics with a jump of 2.38m.Praveen studies Drouin’s technique, particularly how he builds speed during his run-up and converts it into upward lift at take-off. He is also working to strengthen his left leg and make changes to his approach.“For the last seven to eight years, I have watched videos of Derek Drouin competing at the Rio Olympics almost daily. I closely observe how he generates explosiveness from his run-up and then almost stops at take-off to create vertical lift. Even though my left leg is not as strong as my right, I have been working on building its strength. I am also aiming to increase my run-up by one or two steps. It will take time to adjust, but I am confident I can surpass my personal best next season and work towards defending my title at the LA Paralympics,” Kumar says.
What are the T44 and T64 categories?
The T44 and T64 categories are often combined in para athletics events to ensure enough athletes can compete.T64 is for athletes who run using a prosthetic lower limb. T44 is for athletes with lower-limb impairments who run using their natural limbs without prostheses.