The men's javelin throw F41 final at the Paris Paralympics on Saturday turned controversial. At the end, Iran's Sadegh Beit Sayah's pain proved to be India’s Navdeep Singh's gain. Navdeep's silver was upgraded to gold after Sayah was disqualified for “improper conduct”. The latter had initially won the gold medal.
What event did Navdeep Singh took part in?
Navdeep won India's first-ever gold medal in the men's javelin F41 category. He finished fourth at the Tokyo Games three years ago. On Saturday, the 23-year-old from Haryana threw 47.32m to win the gold. In the process, he also upstaged world record holder Sun Pengxiang of China.
But why was Sayah, who finished above the Indian, disqualified?
The para-athlete from Iran breached Rule 8.1 of the International Paralympic Committee Code of Conduct that deals with "unsporting and improper conduct”. After winning the medal, Sayah was seen celebrating with a flag that was of religious nature. He also entered the field of play.
“As per the rule, athletes can only celebrate with their national flags,” Satyanarayana Shimoga, the head coach of the Indian para-athletics contingent, was quoted as saying by RevSportz. “He (Sayah) also entered the field of play, which was prohibited.”
Did Iran protest against the disqualification?
The Iranian contingent protested, but it was overruled.
How did Navdeep perform in the event?
Coming back to Navdeep, his first throw was a foul. But he showed character and came back with his personal best. Later, Navdeep spoke about how it was important to stay calm after the first throw was a foul.
How was Navdeep introduced to javelin?
Navdeep competes in a classification that is for the athletes of short stature. Back in his village in Haryana, he had to face insults for dwarfism when he was growing up. Sport was his only solace. Wrestling was his first love, but a back injury in 2011 forced him to give up the sport.
He took to running. Javelin came to him late, in 2017. Neeraj Chopra was an inspiration. Navdeep read about Neeraj's gold medal at the 2016 IAAF U20 World Championship in the newspaper and decided to take up the sport seriously.
Podium finishes had been eluding Navdeep in the international events of late. But he rose to the occasion when it mattered most. No wonder that Devendra Jhajharia, the current president of the Paralympic Committee of India, hailed Navdeep’s performance.
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