Tokyo

It has been a glorious Monday with India ending the day on historic 5-Medal High – two golds and three silvers.

While India's Avani Lakhera became the first Indian woman in history to win a Paralympic Gold medal for the country and it happened at the crack of the dawn, Javelin Thrower Sumit Antil, had won a Gold and also broken his own world record by the time of closing .

India’s medal rush at the Tokyo Paralympics Games continued with Sumit Antil obliterating his own world record in the Men’s Javelin F64 category with a throw of 68.55m to hand India the second gold medal of the Paralympic Games 2020.

Avani Lekhara clinched gold and equalled the World Record in the Women’s R2 10m air rifle standing SH1.            

Sumit Antil very comprehensively won gold in the men's javelin throw (Sport Class F64) at National Stadium in Tokyo. Sumit dominated the show from the word go as he improved the World Record three times in the final. He threw a monstrous throw of 68.55m in his fifth attempt to climb on the top of the podium.

Taking a leaf out of Sunday's brilliant performance, India's legendary javelin thrower Devendra went on to win his third Paralympic Medal in Tokyo and won the prestigious silver medal in the F46 category with a personal best throw of 64.35m. India also went on to win the Bronze medal at the same event, with Rajasthan's Sundar Singh Gurjar throwing his season-best throw of 64.01m to take the 3rd spot.

Before leaving for Tokyo earlier this month, Sundar had said that he was in good form and was heading to Tokyo Paralympics with the aim to win the medal that he had missed back in Rio Olympics.

Both Devendra and Sundar have been part of Sports Authority of India's (SAI) Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) and have been funded by the government for International Competitions, National Coaching camps with Sports Science support and in Sundar's case financial assistance for procurement of prosthesis, equipment and grant of coach fees.

While the two javelin throwers were making waves on one side of the Tokyo Stadium, debutant Yogesh Kathuniya was ensuing that India won their third athletics medal of the day on the other side of the stadium.

Yogesh secured the silver medal for India with a season best throw of 44.38m in the Men's Discus Throw F56 category and was dominating throughout the event.

The youngster from Haryana who took up discus throw back in 2017 had won the bronze medal in World Para Athletics Championship, 2019, and is the first Indian male to win a Paralympic medal in Discus Throw since Joginder Singh Bedi won the bronze medal in 1984 Paralympics.

Just like Devender and Sundar, Yogesh too has been part of SAI's TOPS initiative which has funded four International Competitions for Yogesh and provided National Coaching Camps with sports science support. All three athletes were considered strong medal candidates going into Tokyo Paralympics and lived up to their expectations.