Cannot be compared to Neeraj Chopra: India's Paralympics gold medalist Navdeep after Paris triumph

Paris: Indian para-athlete Navdeep expressed happiness at his gold medal win at the Paris Paralympics and opened up on his admiration for star javelin thrower and World Champion Neeraj Chopra.

Navdeep's silver was upgraded to a gold medal after the initial winner, Islamic Republic of Iran's Sadegh Beit Sayah, got disqualified from the men's javelin F41 final at the Paris Paralympics on Saturday. Navdeep had initially finished second with a throw of 47.32 m, while Sadegh took the top honours with a Paralympic record of 47.64 m.

Speaking to ANI, Navdeep, who started javelin throwing after being inspired by Neeraj, refused to be compared with India's Olympic gold medallist, saying, "I have been inspired by Neeraj, but I am not like him. He will always be my senior, and I cannot compare with him."

On his medal win, he said, "It feels good that India could win the gold and when Paralympics were concluding, the national anthem was played. I am happy that medal tally has been concluded with a gold."

Talking further about his win, Navdeep said that the coach gave him a target of 47 m to prove himself as a great javelin thrower to him and also recalled an episode of sportsmanship with the disqualified Irathlete Sadegh.

"I had trained really well and analysed the track by talking to other players. I had gathered information about the track and talked to everything with my coach. Coach gave me a target to hit 46, but told me that I should hit 47, and he would consider me really great for that. When I got to know that the Iranian athlete was disqualified, I tried to console him and make him feel good. But I am happy to have got the gold," said Navdeep.

He said that the medal was due to fine support from his family, the Sports Authority of India (SAI), the Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), the central government, and the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).

On talking with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the medal win, Navdeep said, "I felt proud on talking with PM Modi. This produces a lot of motivation to do something so that we get to meet him again."

The Indian contingent concluded its historic Paris Paralympics campaign with a total of 29 medals, including seven gold, nine silver, and 13 bronze medals, the most by the country in the history of the competition. With this landmark campaign, India has surpassed their previously most-successful campaign at Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, which gave them 19 medals, including five golds, eight silvers and six bronze medals.