When Paralympics gold medallist Sumit Antil competed against Neeraj Chopra

Wrestling was his first choice. Along with learning it at a local akhara in Haryana, a 17-year-old Sumit Antil would, reportedly, watch videos of the bouts of Olympian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt – his idol – and pick up tricks of the trade from them.

A student of Delhi's Ramjas College, Antil, however, had to give up his wrestling dreams after a bike accident in 2015. His left leg had to be amputated below the knee. But the Haryana lad did not give up. He was initiated into the world of para athletics by fellow para athletes.

Six years after the fateful accident, Antil is now a Paralympic champion, having clinched India's second gold at the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics, shattering the world record in men's javelin F64 category with a throw of 68.55m, in his debut at the Games.

A few months before the Tokyo Para Games, within a span of 20 days, Antil had broken the world record twice in the F64 category.

In his sixth and last attempt he hurled the javelin to a distance of 66.90m at the 19th Para-Athletics Championships at Bengaluru in March.

The effort bettered his own world record of 66.43m, set during the third leg of the Indian Grand Prix series 3 on March 5 in Patiala. Interestingly, he competed against Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra in the able-bodied event there. He finished seventh while Chopra shattered his own national record with a big effort of 88.07m.

Soon after the event today, Chopra, who won a gold in men's javelin at Tokyo Olympics, took to Twitter and hailed Sumit's show, calling it a 'khatarnak' performance.

Antil's both efforts were, however, not recorded for world records.

It was Virender Dhankar, a para athlete and 2018 Asian Games silver medallist in shot put, reportedly, who took him to AFI's para athletics javelin coach Naval Singh, who advised Antil to take up javelin.

"This is my first Paralympics and I was a little nervous because the competitors are great. I was hoping for a 70-metre-plus throw, maybe I can do 75m. It was not my best; I am very happy to break the world record," Antil told PTI after the win.

On how much further he can throw, he said, "In training I have thrown 71m, 72m, many times. I don't know what happened in my competition.

"One thing is for sure in future I will throw much better," Antil said.

But he was definitely happy to have won the top medal at the biggest stage, terming it as realisation of a dream.

"It is a dream come true. I can't express my feelings right now," the 23-year-old who entered the Tokyo Paralympics as the world record holder in his event said.

(With PTI inputs)