Reigning Paralympics champion Sumit Antil on Wednesday clinched a gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games javelin throw F64 event with a world record effort of 73.29m on the third day of competitions.
The 25-year-old broke his own previous world record of 70.83m which he had thrown while winning gold at the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris earlier this year. Another Indian, Pushpendra Singh won the bronze medal with a throw of 62.06m.
Antil had won gold in the men’s javelin F64 event at the Tokyo Paralympic Games with a then world record throw of 68.55m.
It was the most productive day for India, picking up a whopping 24 medals, with 17 of them and all the six gold coming from athletics.
India’s total medals stood at 58 (15 gold, 20 silver and 23 bronze).
Ankur Dhama became the first Indian to win two gold medals in a single edition of the Asian Para Games as he clinched the top spot in men’s T11 1500m race with a time of 4:27.70. He had also won a gold in men’s men’s T11 5000m race on Tuesday.
Another Indian Sundar Singh Gurjar also set a new world record in the men’s F46 javelin throw as he sent his spear to a distance of 68.60m en route to winning the gold. The earlier world record of 67.79m was in the name of Dinesh Mudiyanselage Herath of Sri Lanka.
In fact, Indians swept all the three medals in the men’s F46 javelin throw event with Rinku (67.08m) and Ajeet Singh (63.52m) winning silver and bronze respectively.
It was 1-2 for the Indians in the women’s T11 1500m event with Rakshitha Raju (5:21.45) and Killaka Lalitha (5:48.85) taking gold and silver respectively. Rakshitha had won a gold in the same event in the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta.
Haney and Nimisha Suresh Chakkungalparambil added gold medals in men’s F37/38 javelin throw and women’s T47 long jump events.
Haney produced a Games record of 55.97m while Nimisha cleared 5.15m to take India’s gold medal tally to 15.
Pooja won a silver in women’s F54/55 discus throw of 18.17m while Narayan Thakur and Shreyansh Trivedi picked up a bronze each in men’s T35 200m and T37 200m with times of 29.83 and 25.26 respectively.
At the Para Asian Games, Indian athletes made their mark with remarkable performances. Sharath Shankarappa Makanahalli and Balwant Singh Rawat secured silver and bronze in the men’s T13 1500m race, while Rana Soman and Hokato Hotozhe Sema clinched second and third in the men’s F47 shot put event. Bhavina Patel won a bronze in para table tennis, and India achieved silver in para archery and para badminton. Zainab Khatun and Rajkumari earned silver and bronze in women’s 61kg para powerlifting.