Tokyo silver medallist Yogesh Kathuniya eyes long-awaited gold at Paris Paralympics

He has already breached the mark that was enough for the gold medal at Tokyo Paralympics.

Yogesh Kathuniya from Delhi rose to the limelight when he won his first major medal in men’s F-56 discus throw at the World Para Athletics Championships in 2019. Since then, the 26-year-old has become a household name in para-athletics. The turning point was the silver medal-winning moment at the Tokyo Paralympics 2021 which also got him the Arjuna Award the following year.

Yogesh achieved early success in para sports after starting in 2017. He was a B.Com graduate and a CA aspirant when he decided to pursue para-athletics as a career. In 2018, he broke the world record in the F36 category with a 45.18 m discus throw at the 2018 World Para Athletics European Championships in Berlin.

The year 2023 also proved to be successful for Kathuniya, he first breached the Olympic qualifying mark for Paris at the World Championships and a few months later won the silver medal at the Asian Para Games. After a hectic season, Khel Now got to catch up with Yogesh for an exclusive interaction ahead of the Paris Paralympics.

Learnings from 2023 season

“To be honest, I have learned a lot from my mistakes last year. I missed out on winning the gold medal twice — World Para Athletics Championships and Asian Para Games. This was because I was suffering from an injury that got aggravated. Moreover, the reason for the extended recovery can be attributed to my carelessness of not taking care of my body during rehabilitation,” said Yogesh Kathuniya.

“In March, I contracted chicken pox and then suffered from Cervical radiculopathy — a condition that made my neck and shoulders ache. My physio and I were clueless about the cause of my injury at first but later discovered it was Cervical radiculopathy after an MRI scan. This resulted in a lot of discomfort in my upper body.

“My upper body strength is essential for discus throw, but it limited my performance throughout the season. The World Championships was the first big event I participated in last year, where I pushed myself to do my best. Luckily, I got the silver medal, and I could have thrown further if I was fully fit.

“After the Asian Para Games was over, I went for a 42-day rehab in Noida which helped me get back to normal. The first event which I’ll participate in this year is the National Para Athletics Championships in Goa. This event shall help me understand where I am positioned currently. Post that I’ll participate in the World Championships followed by the trials for the Paris Paralympics.”

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Gold medal eluding

Year 2022 was the most successful one for Yogesh Kathuniya personally as he registered a world record mark in the F-56 discus throw category. Also, he breached his Tokyo Paralympics mark in every event that he took part in. But one thing that has always kept its distance is the coveted gold medal at the world’s major event.

As mentioned earlier, he won silver medals in both World Championships and Para Asian Games. Kathuniya attributed his dip in distance is injury concerns. Alongside the injury concerns, he also added that the postponement of the Asian Games made the 2023 season pretty long, affecting his plans.

“Had the Games been held on the original date, I would have won the gold medal with the form I was in,” said Yogesh.

“I set a new world record of 48.53m at the Bengaluru Grand Prix, after getting the silver medal in the Tokyo Paralympics. The gold medal mark at Tokyo was 45.38m and I threw four meters farther than that in the next season. Even though I missed the gold, the positive thing is that I have already qualified for the Paris games.”

Mass appeal of para sports among the fans

“I would credit the mass development of para sports to the performance in the Tokyo Paralympics. Some para-athletes performed well before too but an advantage in Tokyo apart from the performance was Covid-19. People started to consume more sporting activities worldwide and then I guess Tokyo Olympics was the most watched event across all editions of the Summer Games.

“Before COVID-19, people had their own set of routines to follow but after the lockdown, they became socially active grasping more news. The trend hasn’t slowed now though with support blooming from all corners.

“There were huge crowds in the stadium at the Para Asian Games and the World Para Athletics Championships. In my eight years of experience, I have never seen such a huge turnout. This can be attributed to the success of para-sports across the world. And in India, we had the inaugural Khelo India Para Games in Delhi which had good public support.

“Apart from the audience, I also saw several youngsters emerge. It wasn’t like they came only to participate rather trained properly before the match days and overall were professional. The platform will see several talents emerging out in the future,” concluded Yogesh Kathuniya.

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