Star javelin thrower Sumit Antil on Monday turned the primary Indian man and second from the nation to defend the title as he received the F64 class gold with Paralympics document of 70.59m on the Paris Games. The 26-year-old world document holder from Sonipat in Haryana bettered his personal earlier Paralympic better of 68.55m set in Tokyo whereas profitable the gold three years in the past.
Antil’s world document stands at 73.29m.
Reigning world champion Antil is the second Indian general after shooter Avani Lekhara to defend the Paralympics title. Avani had received gold in girls’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 occasion in Paris after profitable a yellow metallic in the identical occasion in Tokyo Games.
He additionally joined an unique three-member membership of Indians who’ve received two Paralympics gold. Besides Antil and Avani, the third member of the group is present Paralympic Committee of India President Devendra Jhajharia who received javelin throw F46 gold in 2004 Athens and 2016 Rio Games.
Antil has additionally received gold within the World Para Athletics Championships in 2023 and 2024, in addition to standing on high of podium in final yr’s Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, China.
The wrestler-turned-javelin thrower clinched India’s third gold of the Paris Paralympics and first in para-athletics. It was India’s fifth medal from para-athletics right here.
Antil destroyed the sphere together with his second spherical throw of 70.59m. He had two different large throws of 69.11m in his opening try and 69.04m in his fifth effort, each bettering his earlier Paralympic document.
Antil, although, couldn’t breach the 75m mark, the goal he had set earlier than going to the Paris Games.
Dulan Kodithuwakku of Sri Lanka took the silver with 67.03m whereas Michal Burian of Australia received the bronze with a throw of 64.89m.
Two different Indians within the fray, Sandeep and Sandip Sanjay Sargar, completed fourth and seventh with throws of 62.80m and 58.03m respectively.
F64 class is for athletes with issues within the decrease limb(s), these competing with prosthesis or affected by leg size distinction.
Antil misplaced his left leg beneath the knee after he was concerned in a motorcycle accident in 2015. A scholar of Delhi’s Ramjas College, Antil was an able-bodied wrestler earlier than his accident which led to amputation of his leg beneath the knee.
A para athlete in his village initiated him to the game in 2018.
He even competed towards Tokyo Olympics champion Neeraj Chopra within the able-bodied Indian Grand Prix collection 3 on March 5, 2021 in Patiala. He had completed seventh with a greatest throw of 66.43m whereas Chopra shattered his then nationwide document with an enormous effort of 88.07m.
Earlier within the day, Yogesh Kathuniya clinched his second consecutive Paralympic silver medal in males’s discus throw F-56 occasion with a season’s greatest effort 42.22m.
The 27-year-old hurled the discus to the podium-clinching distance in his very first try so as to add to the silver he received in Tokyo.
Brazil’s Claudiney Batista dos Santos registered a hat-trick of Paralympic gold medals, creating a brand new Games document with an effort of 46.86m in his fifth try.
Greece’s Konstantinos Tzounis received the bronze with 41.32m.
The F-56 classification covers limb deficiency, leg size distinction, impaired muscle energy and impaired vary of motion.
At the age of 9, Kathuniya developed the Guillain-Barre syndrome, a uncommon autoimmune situation which causes numbness, tingling and muscle weak point that may progress to paralysis.
He was sure to the wheelchair throughout his childhood however overcame the chances with the assistance of his mom Meena Devi, who learnt physiotherapy to assist him regain muscle energy to stroll once more. His father has served within the Indian Army.
Kathuniya is a commerce graduate from Delhi’s prestigious Kirori Mal College.
Besides two Paralympic silver medals, he has three world championship medals, together with two silver and a bronze.
On Sunday, Preethi Pal created historical past as she turned the primary Indian girl monitor and area athlete to win two medals on the Paralympics whereas Nishad Kumar clinched his second successive silver on the showpiece within the males’s excessive soar T47 class.
The 23-year-old Preethi bagged a bronze within the 200m T35 class with a private greatest time of 30.01 seconds. She additionally received a bronze within the 100m T35 class on Friday.
She additionally turned solely the second Indian girl to win two medals — each bronze — in a single Paralympics after shooter Avani Lekhara who received a gold and a bronze in Tokyo three years in the past.
A farmer’s daughter from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, Preethi confronted important bodily challenges when she was born as her decrease physique was plastered for six days after beginning. Weak legs and an irregular leg posture made her inclined to numerous ailments.
She underwent varied conventional therapies to strengthen her legs, together with sporting calipers for eight years from the age of 5.
T35 classification is supposed for athletes who’ve coordination impairments resembling hypertonia, ataxia and athetosis.
The 24-year-old Nishad, who hails from Una in Himachal Pradesh, received India’s third medal from para-athletics and seventh general for the nation in Paris Paralympics with a season’s greatest effort of two.04m.
Nishad misplaced his proper hand in a grass-cutting machine accident when he was six-year-old.
Nishad had additionally received a silver in Tokyo Paralympics three years in the past with a soar of two.06m.
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