For the first four of his six attempts in Men’s Club Throw F51, Dharambir struggled. He just couldn’t the club cleanly out of the seated throwing area that is surrounded by a net, and when he did, it went outside the throwing sector. He came into the event as a medal favourite, as he had won bronze at the World Championships. And suddenly, with two throws left (in seated throws athlete throw all six tries in one go) he was in trouble.
He then took a pause, adjusted his harnesses, reset his poisure, got his grip adjusted and with the fifth attempt, threw a massive 34.92m for a new Asian Record. No one else would overtake him for the rest of the event, and Dharambir ended up winning India’s fifth gold medal at the Paralympics, equalling the tally from Tokyo.
“As quadriplegic athletes we are not even able to hold the club, so we use a sticky gum in our fingers. Sometimes it is not in our control how it will release from the hand,” Dharambir said after the final. “For the first four throws, I was not able to get it right. This happens a lot with me. But I was confident that one straight throw would bring rewards, and it did. After my fifth throw, I knew I would win a medal but wasn’t sure which colour. In the end it was my day. It was my throw that stood up, and I got gold.”
Dharambir hails from Sonepat in Haryana. A diving accident in his village canal left Dharambir paralyzed from the waist down after he misjudged the water’s depth and crashed into rocks underneath. In 2014, Dharambir got introduced to para sports, and he began training in club throw under the mentorship of Amit Kumar Saroha, a fellow para athlete who shares a similar condition. And that is why you could see Amit, who was also competing in the final, glow with joy despite himself finishing 10th in the event. It was a special moment for the mentor-mentee combination, who competed in a Paralympics together as far back as Rio 2016.
It’s not always been easy for Dharambir at the international level, he finished eighth at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. “In Tokyo, I was well-prepared, but it was so hard there. Here, with extra training, I was able to get the medal,” he said.
“I don’t have words to explain the joy and emotions that are going through me right now. Coming from a middle-class family with the worst disability in Paralympic sports, I feel immense gratitude for the gold medal. It is uplifting to give my nation so much joy.”
On what his gold, and silver by teammate Pranav Soorma, meant for India Dharambir said. “This is an immensely proud moment for the entire nation. I could see the Indian contingent standing and dancing, waving flags and singing, ‘Gold and silver are coming home’. When we left India we promised that we would come back with 25 medals, and these two medals have brought us very close – to 24. So they are the most crucial of the entire campaign. This means the world to me.”
