Ajit Kumar Panchal
– Photo: Social Media
Expansion
The story of the Tokyo Paralympics was repeated in the Para World Championships being played in Paris. Ajit Kumar Panchal not only won gold in the F-52 category of discus throw with an Asian record but also earned a ticket to the Paris Paralympics, but just an hour before the medal ceremony, he was disqualified and stripped of his gold. At the heart of the gritty world championships is a matter of classification. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has declared Ajit ineligible to compete in the F-52 category.
Protest against Ajit
Ajit Panchal won the country’s first gold medal in World Para Athletics by creating an Asian record throw of 21.17m discus on July 11, but his joy was short-lived. Sources reveal that there was a protest against his category, stating that Ajit’s injury was not serious enough to allow him to play in the F-52 category. After this, the classification panel of IPC called Ajit for review of the category.
Name removed from entry list
Sources reveal that Ajit’s classification went on for almost four hours amid controversies, in which he was put in the F-54 category with less fatal injuries than the F-52 and stripped of his gold medal and removed from the entry list of the F-52. given. Vinod Kumar, who won bronze in the same category in the Tokyo Paralympics, was also disqualified. He was also later banned for two years.
India protested
Satyapal Singh, the chief coach of the Indian team, says that Ajit’s classification took place five years ago at the international level in Germany. He also won gold in the same category at the Sharjah Open. Now it is not right to disqualify him on such an important occasion. Protest has also been raised in this regard from the IPC.