India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid utmost respect to javelin thrower Navdeep Singh, who struck gold at the recent Paris 2024 Paralympics event. In a video that went viral on social media, Modi was also seen asking about the 23-year-old's aggressive celebrations as he explained it was due to finishing fourth in the previous edition.
The F41 final category at the Paralympics saw the youngster register a personal-best throw of 47.32 meters. Although Iran's Although Sadegh Beit had eclipsed the Indian athlete with a throw of 47.64 meters, the Iranian was slapped with a disqualification due to breaching rules of conduct.
Here's the video of Navdeep Singh's interaction with Modi:
"There were a lot of hurdles initially but I kept at it and strengthened myself" - Navdeep Singh
Having been bullied early in his life due to dwarfism, the youngster stressed the need for respect for people like them too, given their ability to bring glory. He deemed it as the happiest moment of his life and said in a video:
"We deserve the same respect, I too have brought glory to the country. My aim is to educate society that we also exist in this world and nobody should make fun of us, which is often the case. We also can make our country proud. There were a lot of hurdles initially but I kept at it and strengthened myself, which led to good results. This is the biggest moment of my life, I feel proud to sign off with a gold medal
