Yogesh Kathuniya, a content creator for Carnival Gaming, has achieved a remarkable milestone at the Paris Paralympics 2024. On Monday, September 2, Kathuniya won a silver medal in the discus throw F56 event held at the Stade de France, Paris. The 27-year-old Indian para-athlete secured the medal with his season-best throw of 42.22 meters in the final.
Who is Yogesh Kathuniya?
Yogesh joined Carnival Gaming, well-known for its prominent content creators, streamers, and esports players as a content creator in April 2024, and this milestone highlights an exciting crossover between the world of gaming and traditional sports. This is his second silver medal in the Paralympic Games after his previous silver coming at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics with a throw of 44.38 meters.
In addition to his Paralympic success, Yogesh Kathuniya is a three-time Para World Championship medalist, winning a silver medal in the same F56 category at the Asian Para Games in 2023.
Kathuniya shared his thoughts, adding, “My first throw was my best, but I was just warming up, so I was relaxed. On my next attempt, I tried really hard and felt some pain in my shoulder, so I couldn’t produce my best after that. It is disappointing, but it is not the end for me. I am still young, and the future will be mine, I am sure. I keep getting silver and I must work harder; I am not happy to have silver again. I know the Brazilian (Claudiney Batista) is beatable. I can throw 48m; I do it all the time. I was doing it in the warm-up, so losing to him today is hard.”
Notably, the F56 class includes athletes who compete in a wheelchair or throwing chair due to impaired muscle power, limited movement, limb deficiencies, or leg length differences. Athletes in this class can partially bend their hips and legs and have trunk functions.
Kathuniya’s silver medal was India’s eighth medal at the Paris 2024 Paralympics and the fourth in athletics. Earlier, Preethi Pal won two bronze medals in the 100m and 200m T35 events respectively, while Nishad Kumar secured silver in the men’s high jump T47 class. India also earned four medals in para shooting with Avani Lekhara and Mona Agarwal winning gold and bronze, respectively in the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 class, while Manish Narwal and Rubina Francis won silver and bronze in the 10m air pistol SH1 class, respectively.