Paris

India's two-time World Champion Sumit Antil made history on Monday by becoming the first para-athlete to win gold medals in consecutive Paralympic Games, claiming the yellow metal in Men's Javelin Throw F64 with a sensational ParalympicRecord at the Stade de France.

Antil,29, from Sonepat, Haryana,the Tokyo Paralympic gold medallist, came up with a dominant performance as he took the lead from the first throw and never looked back.

The gold won by Antil is India's third in the Paris Paralympic Games, after those won by Avani Lekhara in Women's 10m Air Rifle SH1 and Nitesh Kumar in Men's Singles SL3 badminton. It also took India's tally to 14 medals -- 3 gold, five silver and six bronze medals, which put the country in the 14th position in the medals table.

Antil, who holds the World Record of 73.29, broke the existing Paralympic Record with his first throw, hurling the spear to 69.11 metres to improve on his record of 68.55 metres set at Tokyo in 2021.

Sheetal Devi and World ranked No.1 Rakesh Kumar secured India a medal in Paralympic Games archery competitions by defeating Italy 156-155 in the Mixed Team Compound Open bronze medal match here on Monday. This is India’s 13th medal at the Paralympics.

Historic Day For India At Paralympics - 2nd Sep

India wins the most medals in a single day 🤯

🥇for Nitesh Kumar
🥇for Sumit Antil
🥈for Yogesh Kathuniya
🥈for Thulasimathi M
🥈for Suhas Yathiraj
🥉for Manisha Ramdass
🥉for Sheetal & Rakesh
🥉for Nithya Sre

WELL DONE 🇮🇳👏 pic.twitter.com/03mZjWFqKf

— The Khel India (@TheKhelIndia) September 2, 2024

After both archers missed out on individual medals for the country, the veteran-youngster duo combined to win India’s second-ever medal at the Paralympics. In Tokyo, Harvinder Singh had won a bronze medal in the men's open recurve individual category.

The Italians started with a perfect first round which saw them score 40 points compared to India’s 38. However, Team India responded perfectly as they hit a perfect 40 in their second attempt compared to Italy’s 38, tying the game at 78-78 at the halfway mark.

Sheetal Devi, a remarkable young archer from Kishtwar, J&K, has captured the world's attention with her extraordinary talent and unwavering determination. Born without arms, her early life was marked by challenges but she has overcome all odds to create history alongside Rakesh Kumar whose journey has been full of difficulties.

Rakesh met with an accident in the year 2010 and both his legs got paralyzed, since then he has been in a wheelchair. After the accident he was going through the severity of life and faced many hurdles to survive, he even contemplatedsuicide, but today he is among the top athletes in the nation and is now a Paralympics medallist.

Both are from Jammu and Kashmir.

Sumathy Sivan Nithya Sre won her maiden Paralympic medal, beating the former World Champion Rina Larlina of Indonesia 2-0 in the Women's Singles SH6 category to claim a bronze medal here on Monday evening.

The 19-year-old Nithya Sre, the top seed in this section, defeated the Indonesian, who won the gold medal in the World Championship in Women's Singles SH6 section in Tokyo in 2022, 21-14, 21-6 in just 23 minutes in the bronze medal match.

It was a revenge of sorts for Nithya Sre as she and her partner Solaimalai Sivarajan had lost to Rina Marlina and her partner Subhan Subhan 17-21, 12-21 in the bronze medal match in the Mixed Doubles SH6 section earlier in the day. The SH6 category is for players with short stature.

Having lost the Mixed Doubles match to the Indonesian, Nithya Sre did not give Rina many chances in the first game. She came out firing on all cylinders and surged to a 7-0 lead. Rina clawed her back into the game and won four points in a row as she caught up with Nithya Sre at 10-10.