New Delhi: Sumit Antil is in a similar mindspace that Neeraj Chopra was experiencing a few days back before the Olympics. At the Paris Paralympics, Sumit is expected to defend his gold medal from Tokyo.

Three years back, Sumit shot to fame at the Tokyo Paralympics, winning the gold medal with an extraordinary performance at the biggest stage. He broke the world record thrice in complete domination of the field. Sumit has since extended his global supremacy in javelin’s F64 category - raising the bar of his world record. The record now stands at 73.29m, a mark that Sumit achieved at the Para Asian Games in Hangzhou. In between, he won the world titles in Paris (70.83m) and Kobe (69.50m) this year. For 26-year-old Sumit, all these titles remain a stepping stone for the Paris Paralympics.

What has helped Sumit is his focus on major championships. Sumit trains at home and puts in the hard yards at SAI centre in Sonepat.

“I have always focused on the major championships. This year I have been training only with the aim of defending my title in Paris. I prefer to train in India because I think I get all the facilities and I have a good team. They help me stay on track. I did not compete much this year because it was important to have my peak for the Paris Paralympics,” said Sumit.

He added: “Nobody knew me before Tokyo. After winning the gold there, I am more focused, disciplined and work that extra hard every day. I want to go to Paris and come back with a gold medal. I am not feeling any pressure now, but maybe it will be different as the competition comes closer. I am prepared to defend my title in Paris. My coach (Arun Kumar), and my team ensure that my focus remains on training and I am able to cope with the expectations and boost my performance.”

In Paris, he wants to put up a show like Tokyo. No, he wants to better it.

“I cherish my journey from Tokyo to Paris. People have given me so much love. I won the world championships title twice. I won the Asian Para champion title and broke my world record 3 -4 times during this period. In this Paralympics, I want to break my world record of 73.29,. I want to throw 75m. And for once in life, I want to touch 80m. That’s a long-term goal.”

“Whenever I have set a target, I have achieved it and I want to do the same in Paris. The focus, of course, is to win a gold medal.”

Sumit gives his competitors due respect, saying there is competition in the field. But put the modesty aside and you see that when it comes to F64, Sumit is his own competition. In the 2023 Worlds, Sumit’s gold (70.83m) was followed by Michal Burian’s silver at 65.21m and Sri Lanka Dulan Kodithuwakku’s bronze at 64.06m.

“I think there will be good competition. We also have Sandeep bhai (Chaudhary) who is a senior, experienced player and I am hoping that we can both win in Paris.”

Sandeep had won bronze in the event at Para Asian Games with Kodithuwakku taking silver.

Just over a fortnight ago, he was watching Neeraj Chopra return with a silver medal from the Paris Olympics. Sumit has always drawn confidence from Neeraj and has even competed against him in domestic meets.

“Neeraj has been such a consistent thrower for so many years now. Once he crosses the 90m barrier, he will be winning only gold medals. Yes, he always expected to win a gold medal as he has set such high standards but this was a very good performance.”

Sumit will be India’s flagbearer at the opening ceremony along with Bhagyashri Jadhav, who won silver medal in women’s shot put event (F34 category) at the Asian Para Games.

“This is the first time that such a big contingent is going and with so much hope. We are expecting 25-plus medals. It is an honour for me to represent such a contingent. I am feeling really proud and I want to enjoy the moment.”

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