Antil was born in Khewra, Sonipat, Haryana, to Niramala Devi and Ram Kumar Antil. His father, who was employed in the Indian Air Force, passed away when he was seven. His mother motivated him to take up sports after his accident. He has three sisters, Kiran, Sushila & Renu.[1] He was born in Antil clan, a sub-clan of Tomar Jats.[5]
Accident
He wanted to pursue a career in wrestling and join the Indian Army.[6][7] In 2015, when he was 17, his motorbike was hit by a speeding truck while he was returning home from a tuition class. As a result, his left leg was amputated and he had to abandon his dream of becoming a wrestler.[8]
Education and athletics
After completing his secondary education at Dev Rishi Senior Secondary School, Sonipat, he was introduced to para-athletics by another para-athlete, Rajkumar, while he was pursuing his B.Com from Ramjas College of Delhi University.[9]
Career
In 2017, Antil started training under Nitin Jaiswal in Delhi, and competed in various National and International platforms. He began competing at javelin on the National circuit and GoSports inducted him into the Para Champions Programme in 2019.[10]
In 2019, at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Italy, he broke the world record in the F64 category en route to winning the Silver medal in the Combined Event. He then won the Silver medal at World Para Athletics Championships, Dubai, 2019 and in the process broke his own world record in the F64 category.[11][12]
On 30 August 2021, Antil won a gold medal with a World Record throw of 68.55m in javelin throw F64 at 2020 Summer Paralympics.[13] Competing in the Indian Open National Para Athletics Championships, Antil rewrote the world record for the fourth time in a year with a throw of 68.62 meters, breaking his own mark of 68.55 meters. Three of these marks were astonishingly set during the final of the Tokyo paralympics en route to winning gold. On 2 September 2024, Antil won the gold medal again with the new Paralympic Record throw of 70.59m in Javelin throw F64 at 2024 Summer Paralympics.[14]
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