Tokyo Paralympics 2020: BIG blow to India as Vinod Kumar loses bronze medal due to THIS reason

While India was celebrating the athletes' achievements at the Tokyo Paralympics 2020, sad news has come to the notice that discus thrower Vinod Kumar, who had won a bronze medal in sports class F52 with an Asian Record, now loses the medal.

Vinod Kumar had registered throws of 17.46m, 18.32m, 17.80m, 19.12m, 19.91m, and 19.81m in all his six attempts and the best attempt was registered on the fifth try. However, the Tokyo Paralympics Technical Delegates decided that Vinod Kumar was not eligible for the Discus F52 class.

"The panel was unable to allocate the athlete Vinod Kumar from NPC India with a sports 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.

What is the F52 class?

The F52 category is for athletes with impaired muscle power, restricted range of movement, limb deficiency or leg length difference, with athletes competing in seated positions with cervical cord injury, spinal cord injury, amputation, and functional disorder.

The athletes are classified depending on the type and extent of their disability and the classification system allows athletes to compete with those with a similar level of ability. As for Vinod’s classification, it was done on August 22.

As for the event, Poland's Piotr Kosewicz won a gold medal as he registered the best throw of 20.02m in the second attempt while the silver was won by Croatia's Velimir Sandor (19.98m).

More to follow...