At the Tokyo Paralympics, Navdeep Singh had the toughest result in his event, the men's javelin throw F41 which is a classification for athletes of a short stature. He finished fourth in the final with a best throw of 40.80m, behind the bronze medeallist from Iraq Wildan Nukhailawi who threw 41.39m. It was heart-breaking, missing a medal by a few centimetres.
Three years later, there were no such heartbreaks at the Paris Paralympics. In fact, it was the opposite. Navdeep finished with the second-best throw of 47.32m but his silver medal was upgraded to gold in a dramatic turn of events.
Iran's Sajdegh Sayah Beit had initially won the gold with a best throw 47.64m but he was disqualified for 'unsporting/improper conduct' - after displaying a non-state flag - in breach of Paralympic rules.
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Sun Pengxiang , the defending champion from China, ended up getting upgraded from bronze to silver and Nukhailawi was declared as the bronze winner.
It's incredible to think that the 23-year-old Navdeep was not initially interested in javelin throw. Like his father Dalbir Singh, he also wanted to become a wrestler and even competed in some events. In 2017, he took up para javelin after watching another para-athlete Sandeep Chaudhary in action.
It was always going to be difficult for Navdeep, who is around 4 feet 4 inches, to hurl a javelin which is around 7 feet. But once he started tasting success at the highest level, there was no looking back.
"The spear was big when I first saw javelin throwers practising during competitions. I met Sandeep bhaiya in one such event for the first time and we became friends later. When I decided to pursue the sport, he trained me and helped me in ironing out all the flaws," Navdeep told the New Indian Express.
Before starting out in the final in Paris, Navdeep knew he would face a tough competition considering all the medallists from Tokyo were there in the field. But that would not deter him. With his second throw, which was a personal best of 46.39m, he laid out his intentions clear. There was no way he would go back from Paris without a medal. He improved on his personal best and set a Paralympic record with his next throw, which fetched him a medal. And soon that made him a Paralympic champion.
This was India's 29th medal at Paris Paralympics 2024, comfortably beating the Pre-Games expectations.