Who is para discus throw athlete Yogesh Kathuniya, biography, age, parents, disability, state, personal best record and world ranking

Who is para discus throw athlete Yogesh Kathuniya, biography, age, parents, disability, state, personal best record and world ranking

Have a look at the personal best throw and world ranking of Yogesh Kathuniya

At the current Games in Paris on Monday (September 2, 2024), India’s Yogesh Kathuniya secured his second consecutive Paralympic silver medal in the men’s discus throw F-56 category with a season’s best performance.

In his first attempt to add to the silver, Yogesh Kathuniya who won in the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago threw the discus 42.22 meters. Claudiney Batista dos Santos of Brazil who won three gold medals in the Paralympic Games, setting a new record with a 46.86-meter performance on his fifth try.

Who is para discus throw athlete Yogesh Kathuniya, biography, age, family, parents, disability, state, personal best record and world ranking

The Indian has the highest personal best in the five-member field, a 48.34m throw that is the current world record and is ranked number 2 in the discus throw F 56 category.

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27-year-old Yogesh Kathuniya was born on 3 March 1997 in Chandigarh. He is 6ft 2in tall. Meena Devi, a homemaker, and her husband Gyanchand Kathuniya, an Indian Army soldier, welcomed Kathuniya into the world. Yogesh was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome at the age of nine, a condition in which the affected person has muscle weakness in all four limb. He was confined to a wheelchair, with physiotherapy as the only option for him.

His father was stationed at Chandimandir Cantonment in the Indian Army, and he attended Indian Army Public School in Chandigarh. After his mother discovered physiotherapy, he was able to walk again at the age of 12 in just three years. Later, he enrolled in Delhi’s Kirori Mal College, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in commerce.

Yogesh Kathuniya career

Yogesh Kathuniya began participating in para sports in 2016 after Sachin Yadav, the general secretary of Kirori Mal College’s students’ union, encouraged him to do so by showing him footage of paralympic competitors on a daily basis. In the F36 category, he broke the world record in 2018 when he threw the disc 45.18 meters at the Berlin World Para Athletics European Championships.

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In the men’s discus throw F56 at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, Kathuniya earned a silver medal for representing India. Ram Nath Kovind, the President of India, presented Kathuniya with the Arjuna Award in November 2021 in recognition of his silver medal from the 2020 Summer Paralympics.

Kathuniya displayed excellent focus and form during Paris Games. His strong throw demonstrated not just his finest performance of the season but also his perseverance and consistency in the para-sports world.


Despite facing a top-tier field, Yogesh Kathuniya proved he could perform well under duress by holding the lead the entire time. Even though he had to contend with fierce competition from other top athletes, his early success gave him a good chance to win a medal for India.

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