Shailesh Kumar (para-athlete)

Shialesh Kumar (born 8 August 2000) is a para jumper from Bihar. He represented India in the men's high jump at the 2022 Asian Para Games at Hangzhou, China. He won a gold medal in the men's T63 high jump event clearing 1.82 meters on 23 October 2023. He is currently being supported by OGQ.

Early life and background
Kumar hails from Islamnagar in Aliganj block, Jamui district, Bihar. In T63 classification, athletes with a single leg above the knee amputation compete with a prosthesis. He was born to Pratima Devi and Shivnandan Yadav and has two brothers. He did his graduation in Mathematics.

Career
He also represented India at the World Para Athletics Championships at Paris in July 2023 and won a silver medal. He qualified for the Paris Olympics. He won the National Championship at Bhubaneswar in March 2022.

He also broke the nine-year-old Asian Para Games record of 1.80m set by Paralympics medalist Sharad Kumar in 2014. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Kumar for winning the gold medal.