You will agree that each star in the galaxy descending on ITC Royal Bengal in Kolkata in March for India’s biggest sports conclave, TrailBlazers 2.0, a RevSportz initiative, is a pathbreaker himself or herself. Sumit Antil leaves no one in doubt that he is a trailblazer and an inspiration for many with his spectacular set of achievements and his quest for excellence.
A road mishap forced Sumit Antil to give up his dreams of being a wrestler, but with a prosthetic left leg, he discovered the javelin, trained with passion and mastered it to such an extent that he has rewritten the world record with a regularity that is astounding. He has been striding the scene like a colossus, earning the respect of his competitors just as a certain Neeraj Chopra has.
He made a choice early on to improve his life. Instead of following many in lamenting the turn of fate, he came to terms with the changes in his life and found purpose. Also, instead of settling for a 9-5 job, he preferred to pursue sports as a career and, with his mother’s support, invested a great deal in learning the art and science of Javelin Throw.
His habit of redrawing the world record started back in 2019. Barely two years after he started romancing the javelin, he experienced the joy of breaking the world record for the first time in a Grand Prix event in Italy. He repeated the feat in the World Para Athletics Championships in Doha later that year.
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The break in competition due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 did not diminish his hunger and he set three world records in winning the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games gold the following year. He broke it a fourth time in 2021 during the National Open Para Athletics Championships, advertising his insatiable quest for excellence.
Last year, he sealed a Paris 2024 Paralympic Games berth when he won gold in the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris – his favourite hunting ground – with a world record throw of 70.83m. He later went past his own world mark in winning the Asian Para Games gold medal with a throw of 73.29m.
For an athlete who wanted to break the world record once in his life, he has derived pride and joy in constantly raising the mark. He has set his sights on the 80m mark, aware of the hard work that he will have to turn in. He knows he will have to build his strength and improve his technique if he has to reach the El Dorado for Para Javelin Throw.
His world records and visits to podium will leave no one in doubt that Sumit Antil is a trailblazer and will continue to remain so in the years to come. The thoughts that he shares at TrailBlazes 2.0, India’s biggest sports conclave, will resonate not only with the panels that he would be part of and the audience but also with the entire sports ecosystem in India.
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