Dubai, August 23: Parmjeet Kumar, who two years ago won a historic bronze medal, made history again on Wednesday by being the first Indian to earn a gold medal at the Senior level in the World Para Powerlifting Championships. He did this by winning the men’s 49 kg Total event at the 2023 competition in Dubai.
A day after Honey Dabas won India’s first-ever junior gold at the Hilton Dubai, Al Habtoor City, Parmjeet achieved a historic milestone that also marked his ascension from bronze to gold in the World Championships.
Parmjeet Singh, 31, of Punjab, showed strength and tenacity by successfully lifting weights of 150 kg, 155 kg, and 157 kg for a total of 462 kg. This was enough to beat Morales Gonzalez, a competitor from Colombia, who won the silver medal with a total lift of 444 kg.
Paramjeet expressed his joy at accomplishing this unprecedented achievement and stated the medal was the culmination of years of toil.
Getting the gold in the Total category makes me extremely delighted. I opted not to lift heavier weights due to a recent shoulder issue, but I was nonetheless pleased to complete all three exercises. This is a significant motivator as we anticipate the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou in 2022 and the Paralympic Games in Paris in 2024,” he was quoted as saying in a statement issued on Wednesday by the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI).
Parmjeet is now ranked sixth in the Paris 2024 Qualification standings after his performance on Wednesday. The top eight competitors in the standings until June 2024 are eligible to compete in the Paris Paralympic Games in 2024.
J.P. Singh, the team’s head coach, emphasised the value of collaboration in obtaining these exceptional medal victories by attributing the team’s success to their cooperative efforts.
Le Van Cong of Vietnam, the defending Asian Para Games champion, won the individual gold medal after lifting 176 kg, barely one kilogramme higher than Omar Qarada of Jordan, the incumbent Paralympic champion (175).
The World Championships, which are being hosted for the third time in the Emirate city of Dubai, are being competed in by more than 500 powerlifters from 80 different countries.
