Sumit Antil: Witness Javelin History as India's Record-Breaking GOAT Takes the Stage Tonight

Friends, Indians, countrypeople, lend me your eyes... how are we this bright Tuesday? Good? Good. You're coming off a weekend dominated by the minor matter of India-Pakistan cricket so you may well be thinking that's that for the thrilling sporting action, for a while.

We're here to interrupt that train of thought with an announcement: come 7:08 PM, IST, you will lay witness to one of the greatest sportspeople this country has ever seen. For scheduled to start then is the men's javelin F64 event (athletes with a leg amputation, who compete with prosthetics) at the World Para Athletics Championships, and that means it's Sumit Antil time.

But why should you drop everything and ensure your eyes are on a screen (SonyLIV, or DD Sports) by 7.07 PM?

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The trophy cabinet will make your head spin. In the best way.

When was the last time you saw a medal list for an Indian athlete that reads like this -

• 2024, Paris Paralympics: GOLD

• 2024, Kobe World Para Championships: GOLD

• 2023, Paris World Para Championships: GOLD

• 2023, Hangzhou Asian Para Games: GOLD

• 2021, Tokyo Paralympics: GOLD

• 2019, Dubai World Para Championships: SILVER

Read that again while you pick your jaw off the floor. Why wouldn't you want to see Sumit try and add to that stellar list?

He breaks his own records so many times your head will spin yet again. Also in the best way.

Take, for example, the Tokyo Paralympics. Before the Games, his personal best, and world record for the F64 category was 62.88m. His throws on debut at the biggest stage of them all?

66.95m, 68.08m, 65.27m, 66.71m, 68.55m, X.

That's a foul, and five throws above the previous world record mark, with the best coming towards the end. Five out of six bettering the previous best mark in the world? That's just... Seriously, think about it. How many times have you seen an athlete, Indian or otherwise, break the world record five times inside an hour?

The visual spectacle is not something you're prepared for

Have you ever been awestruck by Neeraj Chopra in full flight? At the sight of that muscled Adonis transforming his body into a coiled spring, using it to unleash an inhuman latent velocity through him to the javelin, sending it exploding into the air?

Now imagine all that, except one leg, the one used as a blocking leg, is a prosthetic. If you've not seen Sumit in action know simply that it defies normal imagination. All that velocity channeling through him in a way that makes you forget one of his legs is a prosthetic till they pan out and show him again - nothing quite prepares you for that sight.

He always wants more, and that makes for a grand show. Always.

Sumit has broken the world record 13 times. So, every time he competes and doesn't break it, he feels like it's a failure. Even if that happens while doing something only one other Indian has ever done: defend a Paralympic gold.

In Paris, he broke the previous Paralympic record with his first throw: 69.11m. Then he did 70.11m, 66.66m, X, 69.04m, 66.57m. Out of six throws, he broke his previous Paralympic record thrice... and his dominant emotion was anger.

Anger. Because he had not broken his (still current) world record at 73.29m. The one foul was an intentional one, the javelin had landed between the 67-68m mark, and he was so disgusted with it, he decided to chalk it off the scoreboard.

When was the last time you something even vaguely of this nature written about an Indian athlete? An Indian athlete being angry with himself for not breaking the world record WHILE winning the biggest gold in his sport... yeah, if you time-travelled to a pre-Sumit era and told anyone this they'd have laughed you back to 2025.

And so, come evening, you know exactly what he's going for here: a new world record, a fantastical 75m throw that no para athlete had ever thought possible. It's not everyday you see Indian sports reach heights so stratospheric. Don't you dare miss it.