Meet Yogesh Kathunia: India’s silver medalist from the Paris Paralympics

India’s Yogesh Kathunia created history at the Paralympic Games in Paris when he won a silver medal in the Para Discus Throw F 56 event at the Stade de France-Sea DT/Club on Monday, September 2. Kathunia finished second with a distance of 42.22m to Brazil’s Claudini Bautista dos Santos who broke the Paralympic record with a distance of 46.86m to win gold.

Notably, It was the second consecutive silver for an Indian para athlete who also finished second at the Tokyo Paralympics and achieved the same feat with his season’s best throw in Paris. This is a huge achievement for the Bahadurgarh-born sportsman who is the son of Indian Army soldier Gnanchand Kathunia and his wife Meena Devi.

At the age of nine, Yogesh developed Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a neurological disorder that occurs when the body’s immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system. This condition causes muscle weakness and loss of sensation in the legs or arms.

However, Yogesh never chose to give up on life’s hardships as he regained the muscle strength to walk again at the age of 12 with the help of his mother who learned physiotherapy to help her ailing son. He was inspired to join para sports in 2016 by Sachin Yadav, General Secretary of Kirori Mal College Students’ Union.

Yogesh was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2021

From there, there was no looking back for the para athlete who set a world record of 45.18 meters at the 2018 World Para Athletics European Championships in Berlin. He won a bronze medal at the World Para Athletic Championships 2019 in Dubai. However, his biggest achievement came during the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics where he won a silver medal.

For his achievements, he was also awarded the Arjuna Award of India in November 2021 with President Ram Nath Kovind. Apart from two silvers at the Paralympic Games, Yogesh has two World Championship silver medals in his cabinet won in 2023 and 2024. respectively