Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju felicitates World Para Athletics Championships medal winners with cash awards

New Delhi: Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday felicitated the medal-winning Indian para-athletes with cash awards for their best-ever performance at the recently-concluded World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai.

I'm extremely delighted to personally felicitate all the medal winners at the World Para Athletics Championships. India delivered their best medal haul winning 9 medals and securing 13 quotas at the Paralympics @Tokyo2020 I'm very proud of them🇮🇳! pic.twitter.com/wPWpXdFCNf

— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) November 18, 2019

India clinched a total of nine medals — two gold, two silver, and five bronze and also secured 13 quota places at the Tokyo Paralympic Games. India have won a total of 23 quotas across sports for the 2020 Paralympics. Sandeep Chaudhary and Sundar Singh Gurjar, who claimed the coveted gold medal in the men’s javelin F64 and F46 events respectively, were handed a cash prize of Rs 20 lakhs each. Sandeep had set a new world record in F44 with a throw of 66.18 metres, while Sundar won his second consecutive World title with a throw of 61.22 metres. Javelin thrower Sumit Antil and high jumper Sharad Kumar, who bagged silver medals in the F64 event and T63 event respectively, were given Rs 14 lakhs. Sumit had produced a world record throw of 62.88 metres in the F64 javelin throw event which comprised 42, 43, 44, 61, 62, 63 and 64 categories, while Sharad recorded his season-best jump of 1.83 metres. The five bronze winners — Vinay Kumar Lal (men’s 400m T44), Yogesh Kathuniya (men’s discus throw F56), Mariyappan Thangavelu (men’s high jump T63), Nishad Kumar (men’s high jump T47) and Ajeet Singh (men’s javelin F46) were handed a cheque of Rs 8 lakhs. Vinod Kumar (men’s discus throw F52), Praveen Kumar (men’s high jump T64), Rinku Hooda (men’s javelin throw F46) and Ekta Bhyan (women’s club throw F51) also earned quotas for the 2020 Paralympics. “On behalf of the country, the ministry and the government, we salute you for the show. We have made sure to reward you with the financial support on time,” Rijiju said. “I hope in the future you continue winning medals for the country. We are also looking at ways to improve your training and we’ll extend all possible help,” he added.