Jhajharia wins Paralympic berth with world record

Devendra Jhajharia, the 2016 Rio Paralympic champion in men's F-46 javelin throw category, improved his world record on way to winning berth for the Tokyo Paralympic Games during the two-day national selection trials that concluded here on Wednesday.

The 40-year-old para-athlete from Rajasthan hurled the javelin to a distance of 65.71 metres during the trials which was better than his own record of 63.97m.

The Tokyo edition, which begins on August 24, will be Jhajharia's third Paralympics. The Rajasthan para-athlete first competed at the 2004 Athens Paralympics where he won gold. Jhajharia won his second gold at Rio.

Mariyappan Thangavelu, the Rio Paralympic Games high jump champion in men's F-42 , Varun Bhatti and Sharad Kumar are among the 24 para-athletes shortlisted by the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) for the Tokyo Games.

In men's F-64, Sandeep Chaudhary and Sumit Antil have made cut.

Antil holds the world record of 66.70 metres while Chaudhary won gold at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships held in Doha.

August 1 is the deadline to send final entries to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).