On Friday, Sundar Singh Gurjar hit the jackpot at the season-opening Fazza IPC Athletics Grand Prix. He won not one, not two, but three gold medals, in the javelin throw, shot put and discus throw.
He was a happy man but it wasn't for the medals alone - it was his grand redemption after the heartbreak he suffered, in the cruellest manner, at the Paralympics in Rio six months earlier. Sundar had, back then, set a national record in javelin throw - the event he was to represent in Rio.
He saw it as his day, the day he would win a medal for India.
"I wanted to win. That was all that I had in mind. I had prepared for this day since the last four years of my life and wanted to make it count," recalls Sundar.
Minutes later, everything changed. India won a medal, but the medallists didn't include his name. The reason was tragic, as the 21-year old missed his call, failing to understand the accent of the announcers, as he reached the registration desk only a minute late to find himself disqualified.
"It was a very disturbing experience. A little miscommunication resulted in something so life-changing. I was never told about a fixed time, and I couldn't understand when my name was announced. It was bad luck, I suppose," he says.
A day after he won the medals in Dubai, he was still in celebratory mode when ESPN spoke to him. "I can't say how happy I am. The hard work is finally paying off."
Sundar was always inclined towards sports and started practicing javelin throw in 2012.
"Bachpan se hi padhai se zyada toh khelta tha main (I used to play more than I studied since childhood)," he laughs.
In 2015, his world came to a sudden halt after he met with a car accident. Sundar had now lost his left hand, but not his spirit. Determined to shape his own fate, he decided to make the Paralympics his big goal.
From then on, he consistently did well, further meeting the 'A' qualification mark for the Rio Paralympics with a performance of 59.36m in the 2016 Fazza IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Dubai. He also created a national record in javelin after a throw of 68.42m - higher than the current world record-holder and Paralympic gold medallist Devendra Jhajharia's throw of 63.97m in Rio.
"I was in my best form, hitting 70m in practices. All I needed was to replicate my efforts at the Paralympics, which eventually couldn't happen," says Sundar.
Coming out of the setback was never easy, but once Sundar made up his mind, he knew what had to be done. "I was on the verge of a breakdown. I couldn't go out for almost a month and a half after that. Then one day, my coach sir (Mahaveer Prasad Saini) came to me and told me that I had enough time to bring it all back. I then realised that I had other competitions, the World Championships and the next Paralympics to look forward to."
It was at this time that Sundar immersed himself into work and started training for shot put and discus throw along with javelin throw. Three months into practice, he now has a gold to boot in each of his events. "I had to do this. I now had a bigger goal than the previous one. This time, I wanted to do something that no athlete had previously done before: I wanted to win medals for my country in three events."
And that he indeed did.
Ask him about his future plans and he shyly says, "I haven't visited my family in Karauli, Rajasthan in the last three years. I wanted to achieve something before I went home. Now all I have in mind is to make my mark in the World Championships (in July in London) and visit them. I miss them."