Nishad Kumar broke the jinx, winning his maiden world title after a series of second-placed finishes in style with a new Asian record of 2.14m, on a productive day seven of the World Para Athletics Championships here on Friday. On the track, Simran Sharma retained her title in the 100m T12 with a new personal best (PB) of 11.95 seconds.
On a day stray dog attacks on athletes and officials took the spotlight, Nishad, runner-up in the high jump T47 at the Tokyo and Paris Paralympics and the last two World championships in 2023 and 2024, looked assured every time he took off and had little trouble clearing all the pre-set marks in his first attempt itself. Once the gold was assured, he aimed for the world record but faltered at 2.18m.
In the process, he finally got the better of three-time world and paralympic champion Roderick Townsend of USA, who started at 2.03m but that was the only mark he cleared here to finish third behind Turkey’s Abdullah Ilgaz.
Nishad Kumar won the gold with a new Asian record of 2.14m.
| Photo Credit:
SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP
Simran, meanwhile, had little competition improving on her PB, going under the 12-second mark for the first time ever. Running with a new guide in Umar Saifi in their first international competition together, Simran became India’s sixth gold and 15th medallist in the ongoing competition.
Bronze for Preethi, Pradeep
Preethi Pal, however, could only manage a season’s best of 30.03s for a second world bronze in the 200m T35 while Pardeep Kumar finished third in the discus throw F64. Swiss Catherine Debrunner, meanwhile, completed her quintet of world titles in the 400m T53, winning her fifth gold in as many events here to reaffirm her legendary status.
The results: Men: 100m T11: Athanasios Ghavelas with guide Dimitrios Chrysafis (Gre, 10.96s); 100m T36: Kirill Glazyrin (NPA, 11.73s); 100m T54: Athiwat Paeng-Nuea (Tha, 13.66s); 400m T12: Fakhriddin Khamraev (Uzb, 50.11s); 400 T13: Max Marzillier (Ger, 49s); 800 T53: Pongsakorn Paeyo (Tha, 1:35.76); Long Jump T37: Brian Impellizzeri (Arg, 6.63m); Long Jump T64: Markus Rehm (Ger, 8.43m); High Jump T47: Nishad Kumar (2.14m), Ram Pal (5th, 1.94m); Discus Throw F11: Hassan Bajoulvand (Iri, 41.70m), Monu Ghangas (9th, 32.65m); Discus Throw F44: Andres Neira (Col, 60.26m), Sagar Thayat (4th, 51.93m), Devender Kumar (6th, 50.12m), Pardeep (8th, 46.14m); Discus Throw F64: Ivan Katanusic (Cro, 55.12m), Pardeep Kumar (3rd, 46.23m), Sharvan Kumar (5th, 44.11m); Shot Put F35: Seyed Javanmardi (Iri, 17.17m); Shot Put F46: Greg Stewart (Can, 16.68m), Sachin Khilari (4th, 15.03m), Mohd. Yasser (6th, 14.73m), Parveen (8th, 14.24m).
Women: 100m T12: Simran Sharma with guide Umar Saifi (11.95s); 200m T35: Qianqian Guo (Chn, 29.50s), Preeti Pal (3rd, 30.03s) SB; 200m T36: Danielle Aitchison (Nzl, 27.18s); 400m T53: Catherine Debrunner (Sui, 50.58s); 400m T54: Lea Bayekula (Bel, 50.99s); Long Jump T64: Fleur Jong (Ned, 6.81m); Shot Put F33: Svetlana Krivenok (NPA, 8.14m) new CR; Shot Put F44: Arelle Middleton (USA, 12.95m); Shot Put F64: Faustyna Kotlowska (Pol, 10,88m), Dayawanti (6th, 7.90m) PB; Discus Throw F41: Raoua Tlili (Tun, 33.81m).
Published – October 03, 2025 08:45 pm IST