Sumit Antil extended his dominance by bagging gold in the F64 javelin event at the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, on Tuesday. The 2021 Tokyo Paralympics champion who won gold in the previous world meet produced a winning throw of 69.50m.
Antil dominated the nine-man field after opening with 68.17m before coming up with his best throw in the second attempt. His next four attempts read 64.04m, 65.58m, 69.03m and 68.08m.
High jumper Thangavelu Mariyappan and club thrower Ekta Bhyan also grabbed gold medals in their respective events as India rose to third on the medals table. India won five medals on the fifth day of competition, taking the overall tally to 10 (4 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze).
Antil, who extended his global domination, is also the world record holder in his category courtesy a 73.29m throw on way to the Para Asian Games gold in Hangzhou last year. Compatriot Sandeep won bronze in the same event with a throw of 60.41m. Sri Lanka’s Dulan Kodithuwakku took silver (66.49m).
Tokyo Paralympics silver winner Mariyappan won gold in T63 high jump with a championship record of 1.88m. This was his first gold in a major event in eight years. The 28-year-old won the T42 high jump at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and a silver in the T63 category at the 2021 Tokyo Games. He won silver in the T63 class at the Hangzhou Para Asian Games.
Also Read | No selection trials in wrestling, Tokyo medallist Ravi Dahiya gutted
The T63 classification is for athletes with ‘single through knee or above knee limb deficiency competing with a prosthesis’.
Americans Ezra Frech and Sam Grewe won silver and bronze with jumps of 1.85m and 1.82m respectively.
Mariyappan was five-years-old when he suffered permanent disability in his right leg after being run over by a bus while walking to school. The driver was found under the influence. Before taking up athletics, Mariyappan worked as a newspaper hawker and at construction sites to help his mother run the family.
Hangzhou Asian Para Games bronze medallist Ekta Bhyan won gold with a season’s best of 20.12m in the women’s F51 club throw competition. Compatriot Kashish Lakra took silver (14.56m).
The 38-year-old Ekta, who took up sports after her selection in the Haryana Civil Services, had also won the club throw gold at the 2018 Para Asian Games in Jakarta. Ekta wanted to pursue a career in medicine, but an accident in 2003 forced her to reset plans. She narrowly escaped death when a truck overturned and fell on her cab, near Kundli in Sonepat on the Delhi-Haryana border.
While she suffered quadriplegic spinal cord injury and remains wheelchair-bound, six other students were killed in the accident.
Deepthi Jeevanji won gold in 400m clocking a world record 55.07 seconds in T20 (category for intellectually impaired) on Monday.
China top the table with 41 medals (15 gold, 13 silver, 13 bronze) followed by Brazil (25 – 14 gold, 6 silver, 5 bronze).