India reaches double-digit medal tally! Mariyappan wins silver, Sharad Kumar takes bronze in high jump

Tokyo, Sept 1: India has been scripting history with each day passing at Tokyo Paralympics. On the evening of the seventh day, India's Mariyappan Thangavelu and Sharad Kumar won silver and bronze respectively in the men's high jump final here.

 

 

Mariyappan Thangavelu clinched silver after leaping the mark of 1.86m. This is his second medal at the Games, having already won a gold in Rio 2016. Meanwhile, Sharad Kumar grabbed bronze after scaling his season best mark of 1.83m. The Rio 2016 silver medalist, United States of America's Sam Grewe clinched gold after successfully jumping the 1.88m mark in his third attempt. Another Indian and Rio 2016 bronze medalist Varun Singh Bhati finished seventh with a season-best of 1.77m.

 

 

Amid the heavy downpour in Tokyo, the Indian trio passed on the first five jumps as Varun Singh Bhati started the proceedings on the 6th by successfully jumping the 1.69m mark. Soon, Sharad Kumar and Mariyappan Thangavelu got in the mix from the next jump by scaling the 1.73m.

 

 

Varun Bhati escaped an early heartbreak as after two failed attempts, he eventually went clear in his third at 1.73m. When the bar was raised again at 1.77m, Bhati cleared it with ease in the first attempt before eventually failing at 1.80m. Meanwhile, Sharad and Mariyappan had no difficulties whatsoever as the Indian duo easily jumped through their way to 1.83m, without any failed attempt. With the medal confirmed, the Indian pair saw their first red flag of the day on the 1.86m mark.

 

 

Mariyappan and USA's Sam Grewe soon completed the 1.86m mark on their third attempt as Sharad had to be satisfied with a bronze after seeing three red flags. Sam Grewe then buried the ghosts of the Rio 2016 at the 1.88 mark as he successfully leapt the bar on the third attempt to climb the top step of the podium. Meanwhile, Mariyappan wasn't able to clear the obstacle and had to settle with silver.

 

It is certainly a historic moment as this is the first time the country's para-athletes have done something like this. To put things into perspective, India had previously won a total of 12 Paralympic medals over the span of 11 editions, since the games' debut in 1960.