Kolkata: India’s only para-athlete to win two Paralympics gold medals, Devendra Jhajharia stated here Monday that he is ‘overwhelmed’ to have found a ‘fan’ in country’s Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra. He said that this would certainly motivate him to gun for his second gold at the upcoming World Championships in July this year.
Jhajharia won his maiden Paralympic gold in Athens 2004, four years before Bindra became the only Indian individual Olympic gold medallist at Beijing. The javelin thrower repeated his feat after 12 years at the Rio Paralympics.
“He (Bindra) is a sports icon of the country but he came forward and spoke highly about my achievements. He told me that ‘it’s difficult to maintain such a high standard over a period of time, I’ve quit. But you have won two gold medals at the highest level. I’m really looking forward to you doing well in future,’” informed Jhajharia on the sidelines of a promotional event here.
“This is so overwhelming and coming from the only individual Olympic gold medallist is really inspirational,” added Jhajharia. Bindra incidentally was also present during the occasion.
Jhajharia stated that his preparations for the World Championships July 14-23 at London have already begun. “After the Rio gold medal, expectations have already increased,” stated Jhajharia. “As I am the world record holder (63.70m), the pressure is there on me, but I am fully focused on doing well. I can’t let the country down and so I have started training already,” added the javelin thrower.
A gold medallist in the 2013 World Championships, Jhajharia failed to repeat his feat and had to settle for a silver medal at Doha 2015.
PTI