Pranav Soorma won the F51 club throw gold with a Games record of 32.87m, securing his second gold of the campaign
Paralympic champion Dharambir claimed the bronze medal with a 27.71m throw
Veteran Amit Kumar Saroha finished fourth with 27.26m, missing the podium by just 0.45m
Pranav Soorma struck gold again for India on Friday, winning the men’s club throw F51 at the Asian Para Games with a Games record of 32.87m. It was a commanding display, and he finished more than five metres clear of bronze medallist Dharambir Nain, whose best was 27.71m. Veteran Amit Kumar Saroha was fourth with 27.26m, just 0.45m short of the podium. That denied India a fifth podium sweep of these Games by a whisker.
Soorma is no stranger to the top step. At Hangzhou he won this same event with a Games record throw of 30.01m, in a clean sweep for India. Friday’s mark improves on that record by nearly three metres.
He then added Paralympic silver in Paris in 2024, where he threw 34.59m, behind Dharambir’s 34.92m. The 32-year-old arrived in Nagoya in fine form. Just days earlier, he won the men’s discus throw F51/F52/F53 with an Asian record 11.66m, so this is his second gold of these Games
Soorma’s route to the podium began with a life-altering setback. Born in Faridabad, Haryana, he was 16 when the roof of his house fell on him in 2011, leaving him a quadriplegic.
He has since described the accident as a “blessing in disguise,” and said sport gave him a way to build his own identity. A commerce graduate from Delhi School of Economics, he later joined Bank of Baroda after passing a competitive exam.
Para-athletics coach Narsi Ram introduced him to athletics, and he took up club throw. His breakthrough came in 2019, when he won silver at the Beijing Grand Prix. The Hangzhou gold, the Paris silver and Friday’s Games record followed.
Dharambir, who won Paralympic gold in Paris with an Asian record 34.92m, added another medal to his collection. Saroha, who won club throw gold at the 2014 Asian Para Games, gave a strong account of himself in a tight finish.
The gold keeps India’s campaign firmly on course. India are fourth in the medal table with 114 medals: 30 gold, 35 silver and 49 bronze. They have comfortably beat the all-time best of 111 medals set at Hangzhou in 2023.
