National Para Athletics Championships 2025: Paris Paralympic champion Navdeep Singh claims gold
Haryana’s Navdeep Singh won the men’s javelin F41 gold on the opening day of the National para athletics championship, heaving the spear to a distance of 39.93m at the Nehru Stadium here on Tuesday.
Lakshya Choudhary of Uttar Pradesh finished second (34.21m) while Ritender (Delhi) came third at 32.93m.
The 24-year-old Paris Paralympics gold medallist, however, expressed disappointment at not being at his best but said it’s a nice feeling to take part in the Nationals.
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“I am a little sad about the performance because my target was something else. I wanted to touch 40m, but it is OK as I haven’t been training off late. I will work on my mistakes,” said Navdeep.
Navdeep said he is eagerly looking forward to participating in the World Para Athletics Grand Prix to be held in New Delhi from March 11 to 13.
“I am more than eager to participate. First of all, it’s happening in India for the first time. This is the opportunity for the people of India to see how Paralympians compete. I will come to play,” he said.
To finish fourth in the Tokyo Paralympics was one of the toughest phases for Navdeep, but he came through with his motivation intact. “I had a lot of questions as to ‘why I couldn’t do it’. I had a lot of reasons but when I shared them with my close friends, they told me, ‘Whatever reasons you give, it will be construed as excuses. It’s better if you prove it’. So, I took it as a motivation and didn’t get depressed over it. I turned them into motivation,” said the champion.
The results (winners only):
Men: 100m: T35: Abhishek Babasa Jadhav (Mah) 13.92s; T13: Chaitanya Vijay Pathak (Mah) 11.76s; 1500m (T11): Sukhdev (Chht) 4:42.20s; T12: M. S. Sharath (Kar) 4:10.40s; T13: Rajesh Yadav (Raj) 4:18.90s; javelin throw: F12: Ishwar Rampal Tak (Mah) 56.33m; F40: Ravi Rongali (AP) 35.11m; F13: Manjeet (Har) 56.29m.; F41: Navdeep Singh (Har) 39.93m.
Women: 100m: T44/62/64: Seema Gurjar (Raj) 17.32s; shot put: F 36, 37: Lakshmi (Har) 7.94m; F35: Avani (Har) 4.86m; F40: Akutai Sitaram Ulbhagat (Mah) 5.85m.