Devendra Jhajharia wins gold at IPC World Championships

Gold medalist, Indian athlete Devendra Jhajharia, jubilates on the podium after winning the Men’s Javelin Throw T46, on July 22, 2013 during of the IPC Athletics World Championships of Lyon at the Rhône Stadium in Vénissieux near Lyon. (PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images)

Padma Shri awardee Devendra Jhajharia has won the gold medal in F42 Men’s Javelin throw event at the IPC (International Paralympic Commitee) World Championships in Lyon, France. More than 1,100 athletes from 99 countries are participating in 207 events at the Championships.

Devendra Jhajharia, who won the gold in the Athens Paralympics in 2004, is a one-armed javelin thrower from Rajasthan. He became the first Indian athlete to win an individual gold medal in the history of Paralympics with a world record throw of 62.15 metres in javelin throw, which still stands unbroken till date.

Devendra started the event with a massive throw of 54.71 metres to take the lead after the first throw. Devendra crossed the 50 metres mark with every subsequent throw as he recorded 50.78, 52.04, 53.04 and 52.85 with his next four attempts.

He then created the new Championship record by throwing the javelin to a massive 57.04 m in his last attempt, thus destroying the old Championship record of 55.90 m set by Guo Chunliang of China at the 2011 World Championships in New Zealand. Abdolrasoul Mirshekari of Iran, with a best throw of 52.62 m, won the silver and Mahmoud Ismail of Egypt, with a best throw of 50.22 metres, won the bronze medal.

Apart from Devendra, no other Indian para athlete has won any medal. In the men’s long jump, Gyanendra Singh finished 7th with a personal best of 5.15 m. London Paralympics silver medallist H.N. Girisha finished 8th in men’s high jump event.