After defending his Paralympics gold and breaking the Games record, Sumit Antil's next stop could be in India and winning in front of the home crowd remains the target for the star Indian para athlete. (Full Paralympics Coverage | More Sports News)
The 26-year-old on Monday broke the Paralympics record twice enroute his gold winning performance in Paris where he won the men's F64 men's javelin competition with a stunning throw of 70.59m.
When asked about his next target in an online interaction on Tuesday, The Haryana born said his immediate concern is his back issue.
"Now, the first thing I have to do after going home is clearing up the back injury. I have it for sometime now. So we will try to get it cleared first thing after returning home," said Antil.
Apart from the injury issue, the next thing on Antil's mind is competing in front of the home crowd in India.
"Next year, we have the World Championship. Hopefully it will be in India next year around October. So, the main focus will be on that," Antil said. "In World Championship, it will be a great feeling if I get to perform in my own country and give my best."
Antil also revealed that Paris Olympics siver medalist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra advised him not to try anything in the final.
"He (Neeraj) sent a message that the atmosphere is great in Paris. Do not try anything new and it will be a great experience for you. And it was a great experience for me in Paris. I loved competing here," he said.
Antil also revealed that the presence of crowd in Paris made it different from Tokyo and the burden of expectations did make him nervous.
"It was a vastly different experience from Tokyo. In Tokyo, there was no crowd. Here, it felt really nice to get the support from the crowd. In Tokyo, not a lot of people knew me. This time, expectations were high. So, there was nervousness as well. But it felt really good to defend my title from Tokyo. That too with a new Paralympics record. So that acted as an icing on the cake."
Defending his gold yet again in Los Angeles is also something that Antil has in his sight.
"Normally in our game, our peak time is when we are 31-32 years. I have won back-to-back gold in Tokyo and Paris and my endeavour would be to score a hat-trick in Los Angeles."
Antil competes in the F64 category where athletes with problems in the lower limb(s), those with prosthesis or affected by leg length difference feature.
