Hip injury, viral fever, vomiting: How Paralympic champion Praveen Kumar battled to win gold at Asian Para Games

Praveen Kumar (Image credit: PCI) Praveen Kumar had to fight harder than his rivals to win gold at the Asian Para Games. The reigning Paralympic champion has been struggling with a hip injury that has affected his jumping form for months. He also battled a fever, cold and cough during the competition in Japan.Despite these issues, Praveen cleared 2.05m on Wednesday to win the gold medal in the men’s T44/64 high jump with a Games record. His jump also broke the previous Asian Para Games record of 1.95m in the T44 category. Banti won silver with a personal best of 1.92m, while Uzbekistan’s Temurbek Gijazov took bronze with 1.86m.

Praveen battles illness to win gold

Praveen was not at his physical best when he competed at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletics Stadium. He came down with a viral fever a few days after arriving in Japan and struggled with a fever and cough for most of the week.He even threw up and suffered coughing fits between attempts. However, he continued to compete and secured his second consecutive Asian Para Games title.“Due to fever, cold and cough, training here became a difficult task but I continued with short breaks. While my body felt fine during the finals, my first jump hurt a lot. I was also suffering from mucus from my blocked nose and throat. I wanted to improve my record at the Asian Para Games and to achieve it in such a condition is a special feeling,” Kumar told The Indian Express.

How the hip injury affected his jumping

Praveen has already proven himself on the biggest stage. He won gold at the Paris Paralympics with a career best jump of 2.08m, bettering the silver medal he won at the Tokyo Paralympics. His jump of 2.08m remains the Asian record.However, after this success, his progress was slowed by a hip injury. He won bronze at the World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi last September, clearing 2.00m despite injury.The problem continued to affect his performances and he failed to clear the 2.05m mark in the following months. A jump of 2.03m at the national circuit two months ago gave him hope that he was getting back to his best.Praveen was born with a deformity in his left leg. A hip injury made it difficult for him to generate the energy needed to take off during the jump.“I tore a ligament in my hip last year, which meant I couldn’t generate enough power from my hip during takeoff. When I tripped my right knee to jump, my hip hurt a lot and I couldn’t lift. I focused on recovery first, followed by jumping exercises to strengthen my hip muscles and short sprints to build strength in my left leg. I didn’t know that my jump was close to 2.05 practice, but I was training a little demotivated. my old form,” says Kumar.

Learning

Praveen first learned about high jump by watching videos online. He has been training under coach Satyapal Singh since 2018. When an injury derailed his progress, the coach focused on helping him stay positive while regaining strength in his hip.“Praveen’s strength has always been his smooth take-off and will in the Fosbury Flop technique. While proficient high jumpers have to bend their non-leading knee when taking off, his deformity in his left leg means he doesn’t have to worry about that. Even at a young age, he had good track speed and was also always good at arcing and with a clean stance and only improved on his back with time,” said Singh.“He is a small high jumper, but he compensates for this disadvantage with almost perfect technique. After the injury, I knew it would take time to regain strength in his hip, but I kept reminding him of his best jumps. I didn’t want him to think negatively,” he said.

Who is Praveen Kumar’s inspiration?

With yet another gold medal at the Asian Para Games, Praveen has already started thinking about the next big challenge: defending his Paralympic title at the Los Angeles Games.One athlete he continues to learn from is Canadian high jumper Derek Drouin, who won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics with a jump of 2.38m.Praveen studies Drouin’s technique, particularly how he builds speed during the run-up and translates it into lift on the takeoff. He also works on strengthening his left leg and changes in approach.“For the past seven to eight years, I’ve been watching videos of Derek Drouin competing in the Rio Olympics almost every day. I’m watching closely as he creates explosiveness from his takeoff and then almost stops as he takes off to create a vertical lift. Even though my left leg isn’t as strong as my right, I’m working on building up its strength. I’m also trying to increase my stride by a step or two. I’m running out of time to adjust. personal best next season and to work on defending the title at the LA Paralympics,” says Kumar.

What are the T44 and T64 categories?

The T44 and T64 categories are often combined in para athletics events to ensure enough athletes can compete.The T64 is for athletes who run with a prosthetic lower limb. The T44 is designed for athletes with lower limb disabilities who run on their natural limbs without prostheses.