Paralympics: Sharad's silver lining for Ukrainian coach

Para high jumper Sharad Kumar has not met his Ukrainian coach Nikitin Yevhen for more than two years due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine but he was on the verge of breaking down upon learning that his ward had won his second Paralympic medal at the Paris Games.

The 32-year-old Kumar won a silver in T63 category after clearing 1.88m, while compatriot Mariyappan Thangavelu got a bronze with an effort of 1.85m. Kumar had won a bronze in the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago.

T63 classification is for athletes with single through knee or above knee limb deficiency.

Yevhen is based in Kharkiv, the second largest city of Ukraine and around 500km from capital Kyiv. Kumar trained under Yevhen in Kharkiv from 2017 till just before winning a high jump bronze in Tokyo Paralympics in 2021.

"I spoke to him last night, he is very happy (after learning Kumar's feat). He sent me an audio, he was almost crying," Kumar, who trained in Philippines before the Paris Games, said on Wednesday.

"The war has impacted me immensely, because my coach has not been able to be with me ever since the war started (in February 2022). Even when I was in Philippines, I was always having online chat with him.

"His blessings and his guidance is always with me. All the time I am in touch with him, every day."

Kumar had said just after the war started in 2022 that he was worried about the safety of his coach Yevhen and distressed after being told that the area next to an apartment that was his home during a lengthy training stint there has been bombed.

He had said that he heard Yevhen's family crying when he spoke to them.

"It has been very difficult for him (coach Yevhen). He cannot move around, he is alone, he is the only man in the house because his kids are in the war. It's a difficult situation," said Kumar on Wednesday.

Yevhen was earlier in India as a Sports Authority of India coach.

Kumar, who hails from Bihar and suffered a paralysis in his left leg due to spurious polio medication during a local eradication drive, is a double Asian Para Games (2014 and 2018) high jump champion and world silver medallist (2019).

He holds a master's degree in international relations from Delhi's famous Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Kumar was on the verge of pulling out of the T42 high jump final in Tokyo three years ago due to a knee problem but dialing his family back in India and reading Bhagavad Gita a night before the event helped him overcome the anxiety for a bronze-winning effort.

On Tuesday, Kumar was involved in an intense tussle of supremacy with eventual gold winner Freach Ezra of the USA who scaled 1.94m.

He said sport is a form of art to a certain degree but becomes a "war" when the element of intense competition comes into play.

"Sport is an art till the time you are comfortable with your podium finish. It gets finer and finer the more you train, the more you play," said Kumar.

"After a stage, it (sport) becomes a war when there is the competitive thing. Yesterday was a good art as well as war.

"But I think not just two of us but all the eight athletes performed outstanding. It was a treat to everybody watching the game right from the first jump till the last one."

He acknowledged that para athletics in India is getting better but the same thing is happening in other countries also.

"It's getting better and better but the same thing is happening in the whole world," he said with a laugh.

"High jump and javelin are getting better in India, generally and in Paralympics, it's amazing and lovely, as I being the first high jumper who has the potential of a podium."

On the presence of big crowd in Paris after close-door competition in Tokyo due to COVID-19, Kumar said, "They (crowd) motivates you and they make you feel like a star for a while. That is the best thing and I think most of us are craving for that.

"We worked hard and that is the little moment we get (recognition) for the hard work we had done and that is very addictive."