Between attempts at the Asian Para Games, where he won the men’s high jump T44/64 title with a season-best jump of 2.05m at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletics Stadium, reigning Paralympic champion Praveen Kumar was battling a bout of illness. He vomited and suffered coughing spells during the competition.

Kumar had contracted a viral fever a few days after arriving in Japan and been struggling with a cough and fever for most of the week. On Wednesday, he cleared 2.05m to better the previous Asian Para Games record of 1.95m in the T44 category and claim his second successive title.

“With the fever, cold and cough, training here became a difficult task, but I continued with short breaks. While my body felt fine during the final, my first jump gave me a severe headache. The mucus from my blocked nose and throat was also troubling me.…