Tokyo Paralympics: Vinod Kumar loses his bronze medal

Vinod Kumar on Monday lost his bronze medal in the men's discus throw final F52 at the Tokyo Paralympics. The decision was taken by the Tokyo Paralympics Technical Delegates, who stated that the Indian para athlete was not eligible for Discus F52 class. 

An official statement was released in this regard, which stated: “Following re-assessment by the classification panel,athlete Vinod Kumar is ineligible for the Men’s F52 Discus medal event and his results in that competition are void.” 

"...The panel was unable to allocate the athlete Vinod Kumar from NPC India with a sport class and the athlete was designated as Classification not Completed (CNC)," the organisers said in a statement.

"The athlete is therefore ineligible for the Men's F52 Discus medal event and his results in that competition are void," it added.

Vinod had secured the bronze medal after recording at 19.91m, his best throw in the fifth attempt. He finished third behind Piotr Kosewicz (20.02m) of Poland and Velimir Sandor (19.98m) of Croatia.    

As per a report in PTI, Vinod's classification in F52, which is for athletes with impaired muscle power, restricted range of movement, limb deficiency or leg length difference, was done on August 22 by the organisers. 

Tokyo Paralympics | From Avani Lekhara to Devendra Jhajharia, all Indian medallists so far

Earlier in the day, shooter Avani Lekhara created history by becoming the first Indian female to bag a Paralympics gold medal. Avani won the women's 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 title defeating China's Zhang Cuiping (silver) and Ukraine's Iryna Shchetnik (bronze).

Avani also equalled the current WR to win the women's 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 category with her gold medal-winning performance in Tokyo. The 19-year-old finished with a world record equalling total of 249.6, which is also a new Paralympic record.