Hangzhou, Oct 25:
Reigning Paralympics champion Sumit Antil on Wednesday bettered his own javelin throw F64 world record with a stunning 73.29m effort on way to winning gold as he led India’s whopping 30-medal haul on the third day of competitions at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games.
India’s total medal count after three days stood at 64 (15 gold, 20 silver, 29 bronze) and they were placed at sixth spot, one down from Tuesday.
China continued to consolidate at the top of the tally with 300 medals (118 gold, 96 silver, 86 bronze), followed by Iran (24, 30, 19), Japan (20, 21, 28), Thailand (20, 13, 30) and Uzbekistan (17, 17, 21).
It was the most productive day for India, with 17 out of the 30 medals and all the six gold coming from athletics.
The 25-year-old Antil 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, the reigning world champion, had won gold in the men’s javelin F64 event at the Tokyo Paralympic Games with a then world record throw of 68.55m.
The F64 category is for athletes with a leg amputation, who compete with prosthetics in a standing position.
Antil, who hails from Sonepat, lost his left leg below the knee after he was involved in a motorbike accident in 2015 when he was 17.
A graduate from Delhi’s Ramjas College, Antil was an able-bodied wrestler before the accident. A para athlete in his village initiated him to javelin throw in 2018. He got his initial inspiration from double Paralympic gold medallist javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia. (PTI)
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