 "How Neeraj Chopra's message helped Sumit Antil break Paralympic record in Paris")
Star para-athlete Sumit Antil broke yet another record while successfully defending his Paralympic title in men’s javelin throw in Paris on Monday.
Antil, who is the reigning world as well as Asian Champion in the men’s men’s javelin F64 category — para-athletes with problems in lower limbs — won a second consecutive gold medal in the Paralympic Games with a throw breaching the 70-metre mark.
In the process of successfully retaining the Paralympic title, Antil broke the Games record that he had set three years ago in Tokyo not once but twice — in his first two attempts measuring 69.11m and 70.59m respectively.
In a virtual media interaction following his triumph in Paris, Antil revealed a message from javelin star Neeraj Chopra that helped him outshine all the other competitors in Monday’s final, including compatriots Sandeep and Sandip Sanjay Sargar.
“I did not speak personally with Neeraj bhai before the Paris Games. I got a message from Neeraj bhai through somebody (athlete manager of Antil). He said it’s very good atmosphere (in Paris) and it will be a good experience but don’t try anything new.
“I just took it and it was a really good experience for me in Paris Paralympics,” Antil said during a virtual media interaction on Tuesday," Antil said in the interaction on Tuesday.
The 26-year-old para-javelin star, who hails from Haryana’s Sonipat and was an aspiring wrestler until a motorbike accident in 2015 changed his life forever, added that he remains in touch with Chopra, who had last month added a silver in the Paris Olympics to his gold in Tokyo three years earlier.
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More Shorts“Me and Neeraj bhai remain in touch with each other, I keep on interacting with him once in a fortnight or a month. Whenever we speak to each other, it’s about our sport, like we should keep doing our best and bring laurels to the country.”
On Chopra gave the kind of advice that he did, Antil said, “Athletes can feel nervousness at such a big stage and it’s difficult to remain focussed on the techniques. He (Neeraj) must be having something in mind and he does not want me to suffer those things.
“It so happens at times that the technique you worked on ground (during training) does not come out (during competition). Javelin throw is such an event in which technique is very important,” Antil added.
Despite being a para-athlete, Antil had competed alongside Chopra in the Indian Grand Prix Series 3 for able-bodied athletes in Patiala in March, 2021. While Chopra won the event with a throw of 88.07m, which at the time was a national record, Antil finished seventh with a best effort of 66.43m.
“Yes, I had gone there (Patiala in 2021) to find out what is the difference between para athletes and able-bodied athletes, why para athletes are not being able to do better. There, I set then para world record of 66.43m.
“There is a lot of difference in performance from that time to now. That time, I had a throw of 66m once in a while, but now I am consistently producing 69m, 70m and 71m. I am trying to go beyond 75m in the next one or two years," Antil said.
Read | Sumit Antil's burgeoning legacy should not be diminished by para-athlete tag
Antil doesn’t just have his eyes set on completing a hat-trick of gold medals in the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics; he also wants to fulfill his dream of breaching the 80-metre mark someday.
“To reach on top once is easy but it is very difficult to remain on top. But I am focussing on top competitions like the World Para Athletics Championships next year to be held in India. Our (short term) focus is on that,” said the two-time World Championships gold medallist who had also set a new world record in last year’s Asian Para-Games in Hangzhou with a throw of 73.29.
“Normally in our game, our peak time is when we are 31-32 years. I have won back-to-back gold in Tokyo and Paris and my endeavour would be to score a hat-trick in Los Angeles.”
“One day, I would like to cross 80m, I want to experience how I feel when I cross that mark,” Antil added.
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