Discus thrower Vinod Kumar fetched a bronze at the Tokyo Paralympics, but the result was put on hold after a protest over his disability classification on Sunday.
Vinod’s classification in F52, which is for athletes with impaired muscle power, restricted range of movement, limb deficiency or leg length difference, was done on August 22 by the organisers.
“Results of this event are currently under review due to classification observation in competition. The Victory Ceremony has been postponed to the evening session of 30th August,” read a statement from the Games organisers.
India’s Chef de Mission Gursharan Singh told PTI that Vinod’s medal stands for now.
“There was a protest from one country or may be more than one, we don’t know as it can’t be revealed, that there could be issues on the classification done on Vinod before the start of Paralympics,” he said.
“Vinod’s result, that is his bronze, still stands and a decision is unlikely to come today as it is very late now. It’s expected tomorrow,” he added.
The 41-year-old BSF man Vinod, whose father fought in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, produced a best throw of 19.91m to clinch a bronze.
Vinod also set an Asian record while winning the bronze medal. Piotr Kosewicz (20.02m) of Poland and Velimir Sandor (19.98m) of Croatia won the gold and silver respectively.
He injured his legs while training after joining the BSF, falling off a cliff in Leh that left him bed-ridden for close to a decade during which he lost both his parents.