World Para Athletic Championships: Ekta wins gold with season's best effort in club throw

Reigning Paralympics champion Sumit Antil defended his F64 javelin throw world title while Thangavelu Mariyappan also grabbed gold medal.

Updated - May 21, 2024 04:21 pm IST

Published - May 21, 2024 02:33 pm IST - Kobe (Japan)

Ekta Bhyan competes in the Women’s Club Throw F51 final during day five of the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe on May 21, 2024.

Ekta Bhyan competes in the Women’s Club Throw F51 final during day five of the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe on May 21, 2024. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

India's Ekta Bhyan secured the gold medal with a season's best throw of 20.12m in the women' F51 club throw competition at the World Para Athletic Championships in Kobe.

A day after Deepthi Jeevanji clinched the gold medal in women's 400m T20 category race, Indian athletes continued their impressive run with Ekta producing the goods to finish in the top, while Kashish Lakra took the silver with an effort of 14.56m. Nadjet Boucherf of Algeria won the bronze with a score of 12.70m.

Ekta, a Haryana Civil Services (HCS) officer, had won a bronze medal in the Asian Para Games China.

The 38-year-old, who took up sports after her selection in the Haryana government as HCS officer, also won gold medal in the club throw event at the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta. She had also qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

Ekta wanted to pursue a career in medical stream but a tragic accident in 2003 cut short her dream. The accident happened near Kundli in Sonepat district when a truck overturned on her cab on the Delhi–Haryana border.

While she suffered quadriplegic spinal cord injury and is wheelchair-bound ever since, six other students were killed in the accident.

On Monday, Deepthi, Para Asian Games gold medallist, had smashed a world record time of 55.07 seconds in the women's 400m T20 category race en route to her gold medal.

On Sunday, Nishad Kumar (T47 high jump) and 200m runner Preethi Pal (T35 200m race) won a silver and bronze respectively.

India's tally has now swelled to five medals — 2 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze.

The championships will continue till May 25.

Paralympics champion Sumit Antil defends F64 javelin world titlev

Reigning Paralympics champion Sumit Antil on May 21 defended his F64 javelin throw world title while Thangavelu Mariyappan and Ekta Bhyan also grabbed gold medals in their respective high jump and club throw events on a productive day for India in the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe.

Antil, who had won gold in the Tokyo Paralympics and 2023 World Para Athletics Championships, sent his spear to a distance of 69.50m to stand on top of the podium.

Compatriot Sandeep won the bronze medal in the same event with a throw of 60.41m.

Tokyo Paralympics silver winner Thangavelu Mariyappan then grabbed the gold in T63 high jump with a championship record of 1.88m.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.