Mumbai: As Dharambir and Pranav Soorma rang the bell inside the Stade de France on Wednesday night after scripting a 1-2 finish for India in F51 club throw at the Paris Paralympics, a third person next to them looking on wore a smile just as wide. He had finished last in the same event, but through his pupil Dharambir, Amit Kumar Saroha lived a dream he couldn’t himself in over a decade in the sport.

No wonder Saroha woke up just as happy on Thursday morning. On Teachers’ Day, there could be no greater way to celebrate than Dharambir’s gold medal that he earned after hurling the club at a distance of 34.92m, a new Asian record, off his fifth attempt.

“What more could I ask for?” Saroha told HT from Paris. “I have won every medal there is to be won in our sport — at the World Championships, at the Asian Games. There was just one piece missing, and Dharambir has filled that for me. I’m experiencing the joy of winning a Paralympic medal through my student.”

“I dedicate this medal to my guru Amit Saroha ji,” Dharambir said. “From the first day till now, his blessings have been with me. And that is why I was able to win this medal.”

This is no ordinary athlete-mentor relationship. At 39, Saroha still actively competes. He won the bronze in the same category at last year’s Asian Games, where Dharambir took silver. Coming into Paris this year, the veteran para athlete was realistic enough to admit that a medal was a long shot for him. But he was out there to still compete, and to be by his mentee’s side on an evening where Dharambir fouled his first four attempts before delivering the big one off the fifth.

“I knew a medal wasn’t in me. But to still be here competing, alongside my student, I don’t think you get to see such things. Just being on this stage, and competing with someone who I have seen grow in the sport from the start, gives me a lot of joy,” said Saroha.

Like a lot of club throwers in the country, Dharambir’s entry into the sport had a large Saroha influence on it. The man from Sonipat was left paralysed from the waist down after a dive into a canal went wrong. Saroha, a veteran discus and club thrower who won the first of his multiple Asian Games medals back in 2010, introduced Dharambir to club throw in 2014.

“I would be with him wherever he went. I was adamant that no challenge, financial or otherwise, should stop his growth in the sport,” Saroha said.

Under the mentorship of Saroha — the two continue to train together in Sonipat — Dharambir, 34, took off on the journey that fetched him a couple of Asian Games medals and the 2024 World Championships bronze. Now, he is a Paralympic champion, with another Indian to give him company on the podium.

“The man who made a mark for India in club throw was Amit ji. And today, two Indians are on the podium,” Dharambir said. “We got into this game watching Amit ji. Similarly, more kids will look at us and get into it.”

When Saroha began his own journey in the sport, no one even knew what club throw was, he said. After inspiring many others in India to follow his path, the veteran para athlete is certain this double podium finish at the Paris Paralympics will turn a new chapter for the sport in the country.

“When I began, I was the only one doing this. Now, we have two Indians finishing on the podium,” Saroha said. “I will continue doing what I have done for all these years, finding and mentoring such talents. And I’m sure India will continue producing club throwers who can win medals at the Paralympics.”

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