In the present competition, India took home eight medals, including two gold ones from Nitesh Kumar and Sumit Antil. Men’s javelin champion Antil set a new record, and men’s singles SL3 badminton champion Nitesh won.
With eight medals won at the current tournament, including two gold ones from men’s javelin thrower Sumit Antil and shuttler Nitesh Kumar, India put up a great display on Monday.Gold for India brought by Nitesh-Antil: In a fiercely contested match that lasted more than an hour, 29-year-old Nitesh defeated Daniel Bethell of Britain 21-14 18-21 23-21 to win the gold medal in the SL3 men’s singles division.
After the historic victory, Nitesh spoke with PTI and stated, “I didn’t want to make the same mistakes… I have lost in situations like this against him. I should keep battling for every point, I told myself. I urged myself to stay there and force him to earn the point at 19–20 in the final as well.
Later in the day, Antil created history by becoming the first Indian to defend his Paralympic championship and becoming as India’s third gold medallist at the Paris Paralympics. In order to win the gold medal for India at the Tokyo Paralympics, Antil shattered his own record of 68.55 meters. In the F64 final, the reigning champion began with a throw of 69.11 meters and then increased it to 70.59 meters.In addition to the two gold medallists, Yogesh Kathuniya, Thulasimathi Murugesan, and Suhas Yathiraj brought home silver medals for India. In the SU5 competition, Indian shuttler Manisha Ramadass (SU5) took home the bronze medal.
In the Mixed Team Compound event, India’s archery team of Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar defeated Eleonora Sarti and Matteo Bonnacina of Italy 156-155 to win the bronze medal. Additionally, it became India’s first-ever Paralympic medal in archery. In the meantime, 17-year-old Sheetal created history by being the first female Paralympian archer to earn a medal.
With eight more medals, the Indian team now has 14 total, placing them in the top 20. Their next goal is to surpass the record of 19 medals the Indian team won at the Tokyo Olympics.