India's Sumit Antil won gold in the men's javelin F64/44 final with a mammoth world record throw of 68.55m at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. The 22-year-old bested his own previous world record in F64 in the competition. He was consistently excellent through the competition, posting throws of 66.95m, 68.08m, 65.27m, 66.71m and 68.55m. In the span of six throws, he beat his own previous world record three times.
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Sri Lanka's Dulan Kodithuwakku won bronze with a personal best throw of 65.61m, while Australia's Michal Burian won silver with an world record in the F44 category of 66.29m. India's Sandeep Chaudhary, meanwhile, finished 62.20m, a season's best for him.
Sumit, hailing from Khewra village near Haryana's Sonepat, had originally planned to become a wrestler but those dreams were shattered after his left leg was amputated following a road accident. After months in hospital, a prosthetic leg revived his sporting dreams, gave him the confidence to compete with national stars and, at the Indian GP in March this year, he broke the world record the first time.
SPEECHLESS ��
�� Sumit Antil sets a WR with his first 66.95m throw!
�� Breaks his OWN WR with his second 68.08m attempt!
�� Breaks it yet AGAIN in his 5th attempt with 68.55m
�� Wins the Men's Javelin F64 #Gold for #IND! #Tokyo2020 #Paralympics #ParaAthletics pic.twitter.com/q3Nl2m1dLM- #Tokyo2020 for India (@Tokyo2020hi) August 30, 2021
Sandeep, meanwhile, a world record holder in the F44 category and Para Asian Games and World Athletics Championships gold medalist struggled for consistency and recorded only three non-foul throws - 61.13m, 62.20m and 62.03m.
When Sandeep was 12, a left hip injury which went untreated led to pus formation in the joint. It had to be surgically removed so that it did not spread to other parts of his body. As a fallout, his mobility was affected. He dabbled in a variety of sports, primarily badminton and volleyball. It was only in 2014 that he picked up the javelin. His physiotherapy was overseen by Shrikant Iyengar and trainer Rajveer Choudhary who he was introduced to by GoSports.