As 30-year-old Uttar Pradesh athlete Ajeet Singh Yadav won the silver medal in men’s F46 javelin throw at the Paris Paralympics, friend Anshuman Singh was remembering what happened on a winter morning in 2017.
Seven years ago, on December 4, 2017 the then 23-year-old Ajeet Singh Yadav, a research assistant at Laxmibai National Institute of Physical Education (LNIPE), Gwalior, suffered a tragic fall from a train. After attending a marriage in Jabalpur, Yadav along with his junior Anshuman had gotten out from the Kamayani Express at the Maihar station to fetch water. With the train starting, Yadav was the first to enter the bogey before Anshuman fell from the stairs of the bogey. Yadav got hold of Anshuman and with the train gathering speed, both fell at the platform with Yadav’s left arm below the elbow coming under the wheels.
Ajeet Singh, who had been in third place in the early stages of the event, threw a new Personal Best of 65.62m with his fifth attempt to pip teammate Sundar Singh Gurjar and finish with silver.
“Ajeet sir tried to save me and while he got hold of me, he lost his balance and we both fell. But then he fell towards the train and his left arm came under the wheels. After going to the local hospital and then in Satna, we were referred to Jabalpur, where we got the treatment. Whenever I talked with him that he saved my life that day, Ajeet sir asks me not to speak and hugs me. Now that he will return with the silver medal, it will be my turn to hug him,” says Anshuman.
While Yadav, who belongs to a village near Etawah in UP, would pursue his bachelors from LNIPE, starting 2010, he would also practice in Javelin and would once make a throw of more than 63m in an Inter University meet. While he was working as a research assistant on a human muscle study at the institute, the accident meant that he had to restart his training under college senior and friend Dr Rakesh Kumar Yadav, who is currently an Assistant professor at JNU.
“Ajeet was passionate about athletics and javelin throw in particular when he joined the institute. When he met with the accident, the thought of quitting the sport never came to his mind. The problem which we faced in his case was he could not use the power of his left arm and there was a lot of imbalance in his action. So we worked on getting strength in his shoulders and the effort was to make his leg movement effortless,” said Dr Rakesh Kumar Yadav.
Ajeet Singh Yadav a day after his train accident in December 2017 along with his friends in Jabalpur.
The last three years have seen Yadav finishing eighth in Tokyo Paralympics where he had a best throw of 56.15. Post Tokyo, he also underwent an elbow injury. Post the injury, Yadav won the Para World title in Paris with a throw of 65.41m apart from a bronze in Hangzhou Asian Games with a throw of 63.52m. Earlier this year, he won the bronze in world championships in Kobe with a throw of 62.11m.
“Post Tokyo, when he resumed training, he would suffer pain in his elbow. The doctors diagnosed that there were bone fragments still present and he underwent the surgery. During the recovery time too post this injury, all his friends like Abhishek and Kuldeep would cheer him up just the way they did post the train accident. When he won the world title last year, he made sure that each friend of his celebrated the medal and the Paris Paralympics medal would see the same,” says Yadav.
Sundar Gurjar wins bronze
Back in 2013, when a young Sundar Singh Gurjar had won the bronze medal in the National Youth Athletics Championship in Guntur, the then 16-year-old was given a pat on the back by another young athlete going by the name Neeraj Chopra, who won the silver.
While a tin shed fell over Gurjar during a holiday trip two years later and resulted in Gurjar’s left hand being amputated, the Rajasthan athlete would soon start training. As the 28-year old current world record holder (68.60m) and Tokyo Paralympics bronze medallist won the bronze medal with a best throw of 64.96m, the Gurjar family was celebrating his second Paralympic medal at the Devlan village in Karauli district in Rajasthan.
Ajeet Singh shines bright at #Paralympics2024! Clinching the Silver Medal in Men’s Javelin Throw F46, your hard work & passion inspire the entire nation. Congratulations, Ajeet!#Cheer4Bharat@mansukhmandviya @IndiaSports @Media_SAI @PCI_IN_Official pic.twitter.com/IP1nSrp4O8
— Raksha Khadse (@khadseraksha) September 4, 2024
“Jane se pehle bol ke gaya tha ki iss baar medal ka rang change kar ke ayega (Sundar had told us before going that he will change the colour of the medal this time). When Neeraj had won the gold in Tokyo Olympics, Sundar cheered for him and also remembered his days when he competed along with Neeraj Chopra and shared the same podium in Guntur. Now that he has won his second Paralympic medal like Neeraj has won two medals in Olympics, he would again be calling Neeraj and sharing about the junior days,” shared Sundar’s brother Hari Om Gurjar while speaking with The Indian Express from the village.
While Gurjar had made a world record throw of 68.60m in Hangzhou Para Asian games last year, Ajeet Yadav had won the Para World title in Paris last year with a throw of 65.41m.
Gurjar would train under coach Mahavir Singh Saini in his initial years. While a dramatic non-start where he did not listen to the call to his name led to him not starting in Rio Paralympics, where Devendra Jhajharia won the title, Gurjar would create his first world record of 68.42m at para nationals six months prior to Rio. The Rajasthan athlete, who had won world titles in 2017 and 2019, had a below par season post Tokyo but made a return to old form with a new world record in Hangzhou. “Initially Sundar started shotput and it helped him in his explosive technique in javelin throw. His run-up was good and we worked on his flexibility and upper body strength and he would spend hours in summers too training in Jaipur to set his technique and getting the 25-30 degrees angles in throws,” remembers Saini, who too is in Paris.
At the Gurjar household, the family is making plans to welcome him back. “He had almost quit the sport after that disappointment in Rio, where he missed the call-up. He also took English classes post Rio and after winning a medal in Tokyo, he had shared, “I want to change the colour of the medal in next Paralympics and also written in his notebook,” said brother Hari Om.
More than 300 kms away at Nagla Vidhi in Samho in Bharthana block in Etawah, the Yadav family are celebrating the silver medal. Brother Anshu Kumar Yadav along with parents Subash Chand Yadav and Pushpa Devi are awaiting for their son’s arrival from Paris. “He loves anchoring functions and always dresses well. Maybe, he will host his own felicitation functions too,” says brother Anshu Kumar Yadav.
