Gold medallist Praveen Kumar thanks coach and family for unwavering support and guidance, Paralympics Paris, Praveen Kumar, high jumper, coach Satyapal Singh

Not knowing what the future held for him, he tried his best to overcome the injury in the limited time he had, with a positive attitude and the full support of his coach Satyapal Singh, who asked him to get an MRI immediately to fix the problem.

Thanks to his coach's efforts and his tireless attitude, Praveen was back on his feet within 15 days and began preparing seriously for the Paralympics.

On Friday, the 21-year-old from Noida, who was born with a short leg, delivered an impressive performance by breaking the Paralympics record with his best jump of 2.08m in the T64 category and finishing on top of the podium.

“I would like to attribute my success to my coach”

Praveen thanked his coach for his help after winning the gold medal.

“I owe my success to my coach Satyapal Sir, my sponsors and my physiotherapist. When I got injured three months ago, they supported me wholeheartedly. I had a groin problem and I would like to thank them all for their support.

“I had an injury at the World Championships in June. I could not exert myself much. So I spoke to my coach and he got me an MRI scan. The priority was to heal the injury as soon as possible and we managed that in 15 days,” added Praveen, who hails from Govindgarh village in Gautam Budh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh and won a silver at the Tokyo Games three years ago.

The high jumper added that after his recovery, his coach repeatedly pushed him to exceed the 2.05 m mark in training.

“He (the coach) always focused on the 2.05m mark and I tried to make sure that the bar did not fall. In every vault attempt, I was only aiming for my personal best. In fact, before the Paralympics, I managed 2.08m and 2.10m, but here in Paris, I managed only 2.08m,” said Praveen.

“My family supported me a lot”

Praveen attributed his success to his family, saying his parents always wanted him to achieve a personal best, regardless of whether he returned home with a medal or not.

“Before I attempted the 2.08m jump that won me the gold medal, I closed my eyes and saw my parents and coach cheering me on to go for the record. I thought they had always wanted me to win gold here,” said Praveen.

“My family was very supportive. When I was heading to Paris, they said, 'Try to do your best. A medal is not that important, but you should do your best.' That was always in my mind and I improved my personal best by a centimetre,” said Praveen.

Choosing to start from 1.89m, Praveen cleared seven jumps on his first attempt, securing pole position for the coveted gold medal. The bar was then raised to 2.10m, with both Kumar and USA's Derek Loccident battling for the top spot on the podium but failing to clear the mark.

Loccident took silver with a jump of 2.06 m, while Uzbek Temurbek Giyazov took third place with a personal best of 2.03 m.

“I was determined to clear 2.10m after clearing 2.08m because my coach asked me to attempt 2.10m. I tried my best and cleared the bar but unfortunately it fell down. Next time I will clear 2.10m,” he said confidently. PTI