New Delhi: Stating that he was “very proud” of them, Union sports minister Kiren Rijiju honoured India’s para athletes for winning medals at the recently concluded World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai.

“I'm extremely delighted to personally felicitate all the medal winners at the World Para Athletics Championships. India delivered their best medal haul winning 9 medals and securing 13 quotas at the Paralympics @Tokyo2020  I'm very proud of them,” Rijiju tweeted with pictures of the felicitation ceremony on Monday (November 18).

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"On behalf of the country, the ministry and the government, we salute you for the show. We have made sure to reward you with financial support on time. I hope in the future you continue winning medals for the country. We are also looking at ways to improve your training and we'll extend all possible help," Rijiju said in an official statement.

It was a stellar show from India, clinching a total of nine medals including two gold, two silver, and five bronze, thus recording their best-ever performance. In addition to the nine medals, India also won 13 quotas for 2020 Paralympic from these championships. India has won a total of 23 quotas for 2020 Paralympic across sports.

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Gold medalists were given a cash prize of Rs 20 lakh, silver medallists Rs 14 lakh and bronze medal winners were given Rs 8 lakh.

Sandeep Chaudhary and Sundar Singh Gurjar won the coveted gold medal in the men's javelin F64 and F46 events respectively.

Sandeep set a new world record in F44 with a throw of 66.18 m, while Sundar won his second consecutive World title with a throw of 61.22 m.

The felicitation was also special for Sundar as he was presented with the Arjuna Award by the Sports Minister. Due to his professional commitments, he had been unable to attend the function in August.

Sumit Antil won a silver in the F64 event with a world record throw of 62.88 m, the F64 javelin throw event comprised 42, 43, 44, 61, 62, 63 and 64 categories. 
Sharad Kumar won the silver medal in the men's high jump T63 event with a season-best jump of 1.83 m.

The bronze medalists included Vinay Kumar Lal - men's 400m T44, Yogesh Kathuniya — men's discus throw F56, Mariyappan Thangavelu — men's high jump T63, Nishad Kumar — men's high jump T47 and Ajeet Singh — men's javelin F46.

Vinod Kumar (men's discus throw F52), Praveen Kumar (Men's High Jump T64), Rinku Hooda (Men's Javelin Throw F46) and Ekta Bhyan (Women's Club Throw F51) also earned quotas for the 2020 Paralympics.

(With inputs from ANI)