Sundar Singh Gurjar was the only javelin thrower to not ‘start’ in the final at the Paralympics in F46 event. (Source: Twitter)
India’s Sundar Singh Gurjar claimed gold medal in men’s javelin throw event at the World Para Athletic Championships taking place in London on the opening night of the tournament itself. He attempted his personal best, an effort of 60.36m in the men’s javelin throw F46, which was enough for him to take the top spot and open India’s medal tally.
This comes as a big relief for the para-athlete whose Rio Olympic dreams last year had a tragic ending. Despite finishing at the top and setting a national record, Gurjar did not return home with the medal. In a heartbreaking incident, the 21-year old had missed his announcement call by a minute because of failure to understand the accent, which left him disqualified for the event.
He, however, won three gold medals at the Fazza IPC Athletics Grand Prix six months later, in javelin throw, shot put and discus throw.
At the end of the first day @BritAthletics lead the medals table with one of every colour #Bling 🥇🥈🥉#London2017 pic.twitter.com/gEwdWglUww
— World Para Athletics (@ParaAthletics) 15 July 2017
In the men’s short put event at the World Championship, Virender Dhanwar narrowly missed out on a medal as he finished fourth with an overall effort of 13.62m. Brazil’s Santos Thiago Paulinho came first with a season best 14.31m effort.
Ekta Bhayan finished sixth in the women’s club throw F51 event.
