India’s ace javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra was in attendance at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium when Sumit Antil shattered the meet record at the World Para Athletics Championships on Tuesday. With the gold medal in his F64 category, the javelin thrower from Haryana secured his third gold medal in the competition, the most won by an Indian athlete.

Sumit’s distance of 71.37m turned out to be the best throw of the night by quite some distance. The next best, Colombia’s Tomas Felipe Soto Mina won the silver medal with a throw of 48.38m.

Star Indian athlete Neeraj Chopra expressed happiness with para javelin thrower Sumit Antil winning gold on the newly-laid Mondo track he too would love to compete on this top-notch surface.

Two-time Olympic medallist javelin thrower Neeraj had some time ago requested the Union Sports Ministry to install the Mondo track as it would help Indian athletes train better for international competitions.

The World Para Athletics Championships is the first mega athletics event taking place on the newly-laid Mondo track at the JLN Stadium.

“I am extremely happy that the Mondo track has been laid here (at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium) because internationally we have to compete on this surface,” said Chopra, who especially came to the venue to watch the para javelin event.

“I would love to compete on this Mondo track. I last competed here (JLN Stadium) in 2016 and definitely would like to come here and compete again,” the former world champion, who could not defend his title in Tokyo recently, said.

The champion thrower said he was happy that Sumit broke the meet record, but said he could have gone for the world record as well.

Sumit continued his golden run by clinching his third successive title at the World Para Athletics Championships, winning the men’s F64 event with a meet record throw of 71.37m, bettering his own Championships record of 70.83m set last year.

“He set the championship record. I though he could have done even better and created a world record. It’s a very big thing that this mega para athletics event is taking place in our country. I congratulate Devendra Jhajharia (Paralympic Committee of India president) for this achievement,” said Neeraj.

“India has become a powerhouse in javelin not because of me but because of Devendra Jhajharia. Jhajharia started it (by winning Paralympics gold). Then I came into the Olympics, then Indian para athletes came, Sumit (Antil), Rinku,” added Neeraj.

Sumit Antil finished his season with the gold at the Para World Championships. He will take a long break and then begin training for the Asian Games 2026.

– Ends