World Para Athletics: Navdeep, Arvind win 2 quotas, India win 4 gold

Dubai, Feb 13 : Promising Para-athletes Navdeep and Arvind secured two quotas for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games as India’s gold medal tally swelled to nine after the third day of competitions at the 12th Fazza International Championships-Dubai 2021 World Para Athletics Grand Prix here.
Overall, India has so far won 17 medals, including nine gold.
Friday evening was lit up by brilliant shows from Indian men javelin throwers — reigning world champion Sandeep Chaudhary (F44), Ajeet Singh (F46), and Navdeep (F41), who were later joined by Pranav Prashant Desai with a gold in men’s 200m F64.
Meanwhile, world champion javelin thrower Sundar Singh Gurjar (F46) managed only bronze.
Navdeep, whose first international event was the 2017 Asian Youth Para Games in Dubai, produced a brilliant throw of 43.58 metres in his third attempt to take gold in men’s javelin F41 event. The UAE’s Anas Alhosani (6.96 m) ended second.
“I am very happy to also secure a quota. I want to win a medal at the Tokyo Paralympic now. I felt confident with my throw today. My first throw wasn’t very good, but then I tried to focus and got a good throw. Sandeep bhaiya and Navdeep sir have been helping me with my technique at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi,” said the former world junior champion who had to compete with a new javelin owing to late submission of his own javelin.