Javelin thrower, who wanted to be a wrestler, had his left leg amputated below knee after a road accident in 2015
NEW DELHI: Till the time he was 17, all his energies were channelised towards becoming a wrestler - a wrestler like his idol Yogeshwar Dutt - represent India at the international level, and one day go on to win an Olympic medal for the country.
But everything changed on that fateful day in 2015. Sumit Antil, who hails from Khewda village in Haryana's Sonipat district, was learning the tricks of the trade at an akhada in Sonipat. He had finished his day's training, but had to go out for his tuition classes. He took out his bike and told his mother he would come back soon.
But tragedy hit, as Sumit met a road accident. He was hit by a tractor from behind and his bike skidded off, out of control. The tractor driver ran over Sumit's left leg. His leg was badly crushed below the knee and doctors were left with no choice but to amputate the portion below his knee. His wrestling dreams were cut short. After resting for 53 days, he was shifted to Artificial Limb Centre in Pune where he got a prosthetic leg.
On Monday, at the National Stadium in Tokyo, before he hurled his first throw, the tragedy from six years back came flashing in front of Sumit's eyes for a fleeting moment or two. Thinking of the struggles he had to endure, made Sumit doubly determined. All that he wanted now was gold, nothing else!
Sumit came into the Tokyo Paralympics as the world record holder in F64 category of men's javelin throw. The F64 category is for athletes with a leg amputation, who compete with prosthetics in a standing position. He was also ranked world No. 1.
His resolve to top the podium was visible from the first attempt itself. Sumit shattered his old world record (62.88m) in the first attempt, throwing 66.95m. He then beat that mark on his second attempt with a mighty effort of 68.08m as he led the field from the start. His next two attempts were 65.27m and 66.71m. But the Indian saved the best for the fifth, throwing 68.55m to better his world record for the third time in six attempts in the final. Incredibly, all his five throws would've bettered the record he had to his name before the Tokyo Paralympics, which was set at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai.
Sumit won the gold in some style! At the podium, when the national anthem was playing, the 23-year-old had a cathartic feeling. The journey after his accident is a story of turning adversity into opportunity. In July 2017, he was introduced to para sports by Rajkumar, a para athlete at his village. Sumit was dreaming again.
As luck would have it, he soon met Virender Dhankar, a para shot putter and silver medallist at the 2018 Para Asian Games. Dhankar got him introduced to Athletics Federation of India's para-athletics javelin throw coach Naval Singh, who advised Sumit to take up the sport. It was a new lease of life for the youngster.
With Naval's guidance, Sumit gave it his all. He used to turn up to practise at 3am in the morning at times. At first, it was a challenge for him to cope with that much workout as there was a lot of pain in his stump, and sometimes his liner (inner part of prosthetic leg) was filled with blood due to excessive heat in it.
But Sumit's hard work bore fruit as he started winning medals at the international level and broke the world record in F64 category in just two years' time at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai.
Earlier this year in March, Sumit also competed against Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Neeraj Chopra at the able-bodied Indian Grand Prix Series 3 in Patiala. While Chopra shattered his own national record with a massive effort of 88.07m, Sumit had finished seventh with a best throw of 66.43m.
