Tokyo medals: Haryana paralympians’ kin, friends celebrate

Celebrations erupted in the villages of two paralympians from Haryana after they bagged gold and silver medals at the Tokyo event

Celebrations erupted in the villages of two paralympians from Haryana after they bagged gold and silver medals at the Tokyo event.

Sumit Antil of Khewra village in Sonepat and Yogesh Kathuniya of Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar district brought laurels to the country after securing gold and silver medals in the javelin (F64) and discus (F56) throw events, respectively.

Sumit’s mother Nirmla Devi said Sumit had lost his father Ram Kumar, an Indian Air Force personnel, when he was just 7.

“He had promised me gold medal after Neeraj Chopra made history. I can’t forget that evening of January 5, 2015, when Sumit’s bike collided with a tractor-trolley and he lost one of his legs. He remained hospitalised for many months and a prosthetic leg was fitted in 2016. He never gave up on life,” she said.

“He was trained by Virender Dhankar at Sai Centre in Sonepat initially and then he went to Delhi. His skills were sharpened by coach Naval Singh in Delhi. He was placed 5th in the Asian Championship in 2018. He bagged a silver in the World Championship the next year,” said the mother, narrating his sporting journey.

Gian Chand, father of Yogesh Kathuniya, said they had installed a big screen to watch his son’s match. “He has fulfilled his promise of winning a medal,” he said.

“After the match, we talked to Yogesh through a video call. He was jubilant. Hard work has paid off,” he said.