Kathuniya bags silver in men’s discus throw F-56

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.

“Event was okay, I got a silver. I will work harder to change the colour of the medal,” a rather disappointed Kathuniya said after his event. “For some time, I’m winning silver only be it Tokyo (Paralympics) or today, World Championships or Asian Games..everywhere I’m winning silver. Gaadi atak gayi hai (I’m stuck on silver). I think I need to work harder. Now I want gold.” The silver on Monday is Kathuniya’s fifth consecutive second place finish since the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021.

Besides two Paralympic silver medals, he has three world championship medals, including two silver and a bronze.

On Monday, Kathuniya wasn’t satisfied with his performance given that he won the silver in Tokyo with a much better effort of 44.38m. Kathuniya’s toughest competitor, the 45-year-old Dos Santos broke the Paralympic record twice on Monday, first registering 46.45m in his second attempt and then hurling the discus to 46.86m in his penultimate throw.

Dos Santos is a three-time world championships gold-medallist, and has also held the Paralympic record of 45.59m in this category which he achieved in the last edition in Tokyo. Slovakia’s Dusan Laczko finished fourth and last with a best effort of 41.20m.