Navdeep Singh claims a gold after upgrade as India Paralympics team bags 29 medals

The Paris Paralympics edition is slated to conclude with a closing ceremony on September 8. The India Paralympics team, meanwhile, boosted the medal tally to 29 by claiming two medals on the penultimate day of the Paralympic games. The first medal came to the credit of Javelin thrower Navdeep Singh, who secured a silver in the men's F41 category. However, moments after his silver was confirmed, his medal was upgraded to gold. Resultantly, the Indian contingent bagged its 7th gold of the season on Saturday. Giving another push to the tally, para athlete Simran Sharma earned a bronze medal in the women’s 200m T12 category following Singh’s win on the same day.

From a silver to gold, know how Navdeep Singh won the 7th gold in India Paralympics campaign

On Saturday at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, Indian para-athlete Navdeep Singh earned gold in the men's javelin throw F41 event. Competing in his second Paralympic Games after Tokyo, Navdeep achieved a personal best with a throw of 47.32 meters. Initially, he had secured silver as Iran’s Sadegh Beit Sayah threw 47.64 meters, a distance that originally set a new Paralympic record. In the final, the 23-year-old Navdeep faced challenges with three foul throws but managed distances of 46.39 meters, 47.32 meters, and 46.05 meters on his valid attempts. As the event concluded, Navdeep Singh settled for a silver as his Iranian opponent clinched the gold.

However, shortly after the final, Navdeep's silver medal was upgraded to gold due to a disqualification of Sadegh. The Iranian para athlete was penalized for waving an offensive flag. The athlete was handed two yellow cards before he was eventually disqualified from the tournament. As per the reports, Sadgeh’s waving of an offensive black flag which had Arabic text on was a breach of rule 8.1 of the World Para Athletics Code of Conduct.

“World Para Athletics (WPA) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, ethics, and conduct in the sport of Para athletics. All participants in the sport, including athletes, coaches, officials, and administrators, have a responsibility to uphold these standards and ensure that the sport is conducted in a fair, honest, and transparent manner,” states the rule.

This adjustment resulted in Navdeep Singh gaining the gold medal and ultimately earning India's seventh gold medal at the Paris Paralympics. The Indian para athletics head coach, Satyanarayana also confirmed the development.

“Iran’s appeal has been rejected and Navdeep’s silver medal was upgraded to a gold medal,” Satyanarayana said. “The result was released once again after the rejection of the appeal. This happened because Iran’s athlete breached the International Paralympic Committee’s code of conduct. He cannot use political slogans, only the national flag can be used. He used the wrong flag, due to which he got disqualified. Iran protested, but the IPC rejected the appeal. I am very happy that Navdeep has won a gold medal. The Indian team is doing very well,” he rounded off.

For Navdeep, this gold medal marks a notable comeback, following his fourth-place finish in the same event at the Tokyo Paralympics three years prior. China’s Sun Pengxiang took silver in the men’s javelin F41, and Iraq’s Wildan Nukhailawi secured bronze. The F41 category is designated for athletes with short stature. India, meanwhile, has now bagged 29 medals, the highest ever at the Paralympic games.

Simran Sharma wins a bronze in the Women's 200m T12 event at Paris Paralympics

Simran Sharma secured a bronze medal in the women’s 200m T12 event, clocking a time of 24.75 seconds. Although she narrowly missed out on a medal in the 100 meters, she redeemed herself with this performance in the 200 meters. The T12 category is designated for athletes with visual impairments. With the double medal win on Saturday, the India Paralympics team now sits at the 18th spot in the medal ranking with 7 gold, 9 silver and 13 bronze medals ahead of the last day at the Paris Paralympics.