Indian para-athlete Navdeep Singh, who won a gold medal in the Javelin F41 category, has demanded that para-athletes like him should be given the same respect as ordinary athletes. Suffering from short stature, Navdeep has to endure the usual hardships of training as well as cruel taunts from the people of his village in Haryana’s Panipat district. Navdeep was born prematurely in 2000. His parents did not realize that their son had dwarfism until he was two years old.
His father Dalbir Singh was a national-level wrestler and gave his son full support for the sport. The track and field events at the Paris Games ended and Navdeep’s golden throw in the final sent the Indian national anthem ringing out at the Stade de France. Navdeep was second with a best effort of 47.32m. But his silver medal was converted into gold after Iran’s Beit Sayah Sadegh was disqualified. Saya was disqualified for repeatedly displaying offensive flags. His actions cost him the gold medal.
In a video shared by the Paralympic Committee of India, Navdeep said, “We should also get the same status, I have also brought glory to the country. I aim to teach society that we are also in this world and no one should make fun of us, which often happens. We can also make our country proud. There were a lot of setbacks in the beginning but I kept myself strong and continued my game. I got good results from it. This is the biggest moment of my life, I am proud to win the gold medal.”
Navdeep Singh asks people to respect them
The 24-year-old said, “The first thing that comes to my mind is my father Dalbir Singh. I miss my family a lot now. At first, it felt like a burden. I wondered why I couldn’t enjoy life like going to school and studying like others. My father inspired me for sports and kept me on track. I cannot attribute this journey to just one person. Champions are made with support, so my coaches, my family, and the government, all contributed to our success. We expected 25 medals but the number reached 29.”
Navdeep credited veteran para-athlete and Indian Paralympic Committee president Devendra Jazaria for his success. He said, “Zazaria has a lot of experience and has always been successful in solving deadlocked matches, so I shared my problems with him. He gave quite a bit of advice but in the end, it turned out that this is a very important aspect indeed.”
