PM Modi dials Sumit Antil to congratulate on gold; Akshay Kumar, Bachchan Jr. celebrate on Twitter

India's Paralympic athletes have been making the country proud with their outstanding performance in Tokyo. Sumit Antil bagged India's second gold medal (shooter Avani Lekhara won the first) in the men's javelin throw (Sport Class F64) at National Stadium during the ongoing Tokyo Paralympics. Antil's monstrous throw of 68.55m took him to the top of the podium; he improved the World Record three times in the final.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned the gold medallist to congratulate him on the win.



Social media, too, was flooded with celebratory messages. Bollywood and sports stars joined the horde of messages coming in for the athlete.

Abhishek Bachchan, who is an avid sports fan and also owns the Jaipur Pink Panthers team in the Pro Kabbadi League, called him "a force to reckon with."

"Congratulations, #SumitAntil, for winning a #gold medal and taking #TokyoParalympics by storm with a world record in #JavelinThrow," the 'Guru' actor tweeted.


Actor Akshay Kumar, too, took to the micro-blogging site to hail Antil's "brilliant performance."


Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, who bagged India's first ever gold in track and field at Tokyo this year, celebrated Antil's win on Twitter.


Weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, who brought home a silver from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, tweeted, "Heartiest congratulations #SumitAntil on the record-breaking throw and winning gold medal for our country."


Former cricketer and MP Gautam Gambhir said, "India is elated today."


Virendra Sehwag lauded the feat of India's contingent at the Games., calling them "outstanding warriors."

"#SumitAntil with a Gold and a World Record. Devendra Jhajharia with a Silver and Sundar Singh Gurjar with a Bronze. And India is having a wonderful campaign at the #TokyoParalympics courtesy these outstanding warriors," he wrote.


Suresh Raina called it an achievement to cherish for a lifetime.


India's medal tally stands at 5 with two gold medals (with world records), two silver medals, and a bronze.