Sumit Antil Reveals Neeraj Chopra’s Message En Route To Paris Paralympics 2024 Javelin Gold

Paris: Neeraj Chopra’s advice of trying nothing new worked wonders for Sumit Antil as the 26-year-old defended his Paralympics javelin gold in Paris on Monday. Antil, who lost his left leg below the knee in an accident in 2015, bettered his own record twice in the F64 category with a Games record of 70.59m. He also became the first Indian man and second from the country after Avani Lekhara to defend the Paralympics title.

Antil said he and Chopra interact with each other at least once in a month, discussing about their sport and how to get better in it. “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,” Antil said during a virtual media interaction on Tuesday.

Having broken his own record thrice during the Tokyo Paralympics, Antil entered the Paris Games as pre-competition favourite. On Monday, the Sonipat born-lad started broke his own Games record of 68.55m to throw 69.11m in his first attempt.

He registered his gold-medal winning throw in his second attempt. “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,” he said.

Asked why Chopra gave that kind of advice, 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,” he said.