By Vivek Prabhakar Singh

New Delhi [India], September 30 (ANI): India's Paralympic silver medalist Deepa Malik celebrated her birthday, attending the World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi. The legendary athlete, India's first-ever women's Paralympic medalist, expressed pride at the country's progress in para-sports, which has led to the nation hosting the world para-athletics meet for the first time ever.

Deepa, who turned 55 on Tuesday, was speaking to ANI, attending the World Para Athletics Championships at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.

Speaking to ANI, she expressed pride in India's para-sports journey, highlighting how, under her tenure as the president of Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), the paperwork was started for hosting and bidding of the competition, and the dream turned into reality under the presidency of Devendra Jhajaria, who is currently at the helm of the organising and is her successor.

'On my birthday, a word of gratitude to the Almighty, to the government, PM Modi, the sports ministry and PCI for bringing us to a point where we are able to host such a huge and one of the most popular events in the world. I feel so proud that during my tenure as PCI president, we started the paperwork and bidding for this, and now, under my friend, fellow Paralympian, Devendra, it is seeing the light of day. Honoured to be here and see it all happening,' said the Paralympics 2016 medalist.

Deepa recalled when she got her silver in the shot put competition in the 2011 edition at Christchurch, it was an 'opening of a door' moment for para-athletes at the World Para Athletics Championships.

'I am so happy to see so many athletes carrying the tricolour, breaking world records and bringing medals for the country. I am so happy seeing so many women para-athletes participating, to seeing Deepthi Jeevanji (women's 400m T20), winning successive world championship medals,' she added.

Deepa also backed Neeraj Chopra, the superstar Olympic and world championship gold medalist, who had a poor outing at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo with an eighth-place finish and a best throw of 84.03 m, to come good, saying that even though it was not Neeraj's day, the country 'will celebrate Neeraj everyday'.

'There is never a low for an athlete who has worked sincerely and honestly. He has given India tremendous joy. I would not call it a low, just a work in progress,' she added.

Two-time Paralympic champion Sumit Antil and Sandip Singh Sargar made it a most memorable evening for India with gold medals in the F64 and F44 Javelin Throw finals, respectively, in the New Delhi 2025 World Para Athletics Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on a balmy Tuesday evening.

With 2020 Olympic and 2023 World Champion Neeraj Chopra in the house, Sumit Antil buckled down to the task of chasing the Championship record despite being in a league of his own. He had three throws beyond the 65m in his first four attempts and did not relent, though the gold was assured. He nailed a new meet record of 71.37m with his fifth try, as per a press release from the Sports Authority of India (SAI).

It was Antil's third World Championships gold, the most won by an Indian. His earlier victories had come in 2023 Paris, where he set a World Record of 70.83m, and in 2024 Kobe, where he claimed gold with a 69.50m. His determination to make his hat-trick special was on evidence as he locked his focus on his goal.

Away from the spotlight that was trained sharply on the home Javelin Throwers, 35-year-old Vanessa Low claimed her third World Championships Long Jump T42 gold medal for Australia after having won in 2015 for Germany. She landed a new T61 Championships Record of 5.49m to add to the gold medals she had won in the 2015, 2019 and 2024 editions.

Ricardo Gomes de Mendonca (Brazil), Magdalena Andruszkiewicz (Poland) and Orla Comerford (Ireland) completed the men's T37, women's T72 and women's T13 sprint doubles respectively. Mendonca, who won a hat-trick of 100m crowns in the World Championships, added the 200m gold to his collection in conditions that he said reminded him of home.

Poland's Magdalena Anduszkiewicz scripted one of the two new World Records on Tuesday evening with a run of 16.82 seconds in the women's 100m T72 final, improving on the mark of 17.07 set by Maria Strong of Australia in 2023. The other World Record was set by Greek Javelin Thrower in the F62 classification with a mark of 35.08m.

Sandip Singh Sargar led India to a 1-2 finish in the men's Javelin Throw F44, held as a separate medal event, unlike the earlier years when F42-44 were clubbed with F64. Sandeep, who had won bronze in the F64 competition last year, claimed the silver on Tuesday evening to set off India's quest to rise in the medals table on a delightful note.

In the fifth round, Sandeep threw the spear to within 1cm of the leader's best effort of 62.68m. But almost as if wanting to establish his superiority in no uncertain terms, Sandeep Singh Sargar uncorked a throw over 62.82m moments later. Pushpendra Singh, a F43 athlete, got his season's best throw of 61.94m on his final attempt but could not break into medal position.

Edenilson Roberto (Brazil) picked up the bronze medal with a F42 World Record distance of 62.36m on his final attempt in an exhilarating competition that saw the top five athletes getting their season's best throws.

Brazil consolidated its position at the top of the medals table with seven gold, 14 silver and six bronze ahead of Poland (6-1-5) and China (5-7-4). With four gold, four silver and a bronze, India is in fourth position, thanks to the two gold medals won in the Javelin Throw competitions on Tuesday evening. (ANI)