Sumit Antil (born 6 July 1998) is an Indian

paralympian The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...

and

javelin thrower The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the wom ...

. He won a gold medal in men's javelin throw F64 category at the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralym ...

. He holds the current world record, having thrown 68.62 meters in the Indian Open National Para Athletics Championships.

Early life

Sumit Antil was born on 6 July 1998 in Khewra,

Sonipat Sonipat is a city, municipal corporation and administrative headquarter in Sonipat district of Haryana state of India. It comes under the National Capital Region and is around from New Delhi. It is also around 214 km (128 miles) southwest ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ...

, India. Young Sumit wanted to pursue a career in wrestling and join Indian Army. In 2015, when he was 17, his motorbike was hit by a speeding truck while he was returning home from training. As a result, his left leg was amputated and he had to abandon his dream of becoming a wrestler. Sumit is supported by the

GoSports Foundation The GoSports Foundation (GSF) is an independent, donor-funded non-profit venture, working towards securing funds and professional expertise for some of India's junior Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Established in 2008, it has worked with nume ...

through the Para Champions Programme. After completing his secondary education in Dev Rishi Senior Secondary School, Sonipat, Antil was introduced to Para athletics by another para athlete, Rajkumar, while he was pursuing his B.Com from

Ramjas college Ramjas College is a college of the University of Delhi located in North Campus of the university in New Delhi, India.The college admits both undergraduates and post-graduates, and awards degrees under the purview of the University of Delhi. R ...

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

. In 2017, Antil started training under Nitin Jaiswal in Delhi, and competed in various National and International platforms. He began competing at javelin on the National circuit and GoSports inducted him into the Para Champions Programme in 2019.

Career

In 2019, at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Italy, he broke the world record in the F64 category en route to winning the Silver medal in the Combined Event. He then won the Silver medal at

World Para Athletics Championships The World Para Athletics Championships, known as the IPC Athletics World Championships prior to 2017, are a biennial Paralympic athletics event organized by World Para Athletics, a subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). It ...

, Dubai, 2019 and in the process broke his own world record in the F64 category. On 30 August 2021, Antil won a gold medal with a World Record throw of 68.55m in javelin throw F64 at

.Competing in the Indian Open National Para Athletics Championships, Antil rewrote the world record for the fourth time in a year with a throw of 68.62 meters, breaking his own mark of 68.55 meters. Three of these marks were astonishingly set during the final of the Tokyo paralympics en route to winning gold.

Family

Sumit Antil's family consists of his mother, Niramala Devi, and three sisters, Kiran, Sushila & Renu. His father, Ram Kumar, died when he was seven.

Awards

* 2021 – Khel Ratna Award, highest sporting honour of India. * 2022 –

Padma Shri Award Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferr ...

, fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antil, Sumit 1998 births Living people Paralympic athletes of India Indian male javelin throwers People from Sonipat Athletes from Haryana Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for India Track and field athletes with disabilities Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Recipients of the Khel Ratna Award Ramjas College alumni

Early life

Career

Family

Awards

See also

References