Why was India's Navdeep awarded gold in F41 javelin at Paris Paralympics, despite winning silver?

In an absurd turn of events, India’s Navdeep was awarded the gold medal in the men’s F41 javelin at the Paris Paralympics, despite winning a silver only. Iranian thrower Sadageh Sayah Beit had initially won a gold medal, but he was disqualified, after showing unsportsmanlike behaviour. That meant, India had won their seventh gold in the ongoing competition.

🚨🥇 𝗡𝗔𝗩𝗗𝗘𝗘𝗣 𝗜𝗦 𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗗 𝗚𝗢𝗟𝗗! After initially being awarded silver, Navdeep Singh is now awarded the gold medal following the disqualification of Beit Sayah.

🇮🇳 This now makes it two gold medals for India in javelin at the Paris Paralympics.

🥇 Sumit Antil -… https://t.co/K0HP0h7EOH pic.twitter.com/ZOrBgovMqF
— Sportwalk Media (@sportwalkmedia) September 7, 2024

Why Was Iran’s Sadageh Sayah Beit Disqualified?

As per the International Paralympic Committee’s code of conduct, Sadageh C had violated the rule 8.1, which addresses “unsporting or improper conduct”. The athlete in question, Beit was penalised for showing a non-state flag and also doing a ‘slit throat celebration, that cost him dear. He was first given two yellow cards, that resulted in him being shown the red, and eventually getting disqualified.

Rule 8.1 says, “World Para Athletics (WPA) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, ethics, and conduct in the sport of Para athletics. All participants in the sport, including athletes, coaches, officials, and administrators, have a responsibility to uphold these standards and ensure that the sport is conducted in a fair, honest, and transparent manner.”

What Does Navdeep’s Gold Mean for India?

A seventh gold medal at Paris Paralympics means that Team India would most likely finish in the top-15 of the medals table. Now we have 29 medals in all, in this edition, which is 10 more than Tokyo 2020. That also means, India has surpassed the likes of Iran, South Korea, Belgium, Turkey, Cuba, and Mexico in the tally. In short, this is the best ever performance by the Indian contingent at Paralympics.

India Medalists at Paris Paralympics

Medal	Athlete	Event	Sport
Gold	Avani Lekhara	R2 Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1	Shooting
Gold	Nitesh Kumar	Men’s Singles SL3	Badminton
Gold	Praveen Kumar	High Jump T64	Athletics
Gold	Sumit Antil	Men’s Javelin Throw F64	Athletics
Gold	Harvinder Singh	Men’s Individual Recurve Open	Archery
Gold	Dharambir	Men’s Club Throw – F51	Athletics
Gold	Navdeep Singh	Men’s Javelin Throw F41	Athletics
Silver	Manish Narwal	P1 Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1	Shooting
Silver	Nishad Kumar	Men’s High Jump T47	Athletics
Silver	Yogesh Kathuniya	Men’s Discus Throw F56	Athletics
Silver	Thulasimathi Murugesan	Women’s Singles SU5	Badminton
Silver	Suhas Yathiraj	Men’s Singles SL4	Badminton
Silver	Sharad Kumar	Men’s High Jump T63	Athletics
Silver	Ajeet Singh Yadav	Men’s Javelin Throw F46	Athletics
Silver	Sachin Khilari	Men’s Shot Put F46	Athletics
Silver	Pranav Soorma	Men’s Club Throw – F51	Athletics
Bronze	Mona Agarwal	R2 Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1	Shooting
Bronze	Preethi Pal	Women’s 100m T35	Athletics
Bronze	Preethi Pal	Women’s 200m T35	Athletics
Bronze	Rubina Francis	P2 Women’s 10m Air Pistol SH1	Shooting
Bronze	Manisha Ramadass	Women’s Singles SU5	Badminton
Bronze	Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar	Mixed Team Compound Open	Archery
Bronze	Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan	Women’s Singles SH6	Badminton
Bronze	Deepthi Jeevanji	Women’s 400m T20	Athletics
Bronze	Mariyappan Thangavelu	Men’s High Jump T63	Athletics
Bronze	Sundar Singh Gurjar	Men’s Javelin Throw F46	Athletics
Bronze	Kapil Parmar	Men -60 kg J1	Judo
Bronze	Hokato Hotozhe Sema	Men’s Shot Put – F57	Athletics
Bronze	Simran Sharma	Women’s 200m T12	Athletics