Written by Pritish RajNew Delhi | Updated: October 3, 2025 01:40 AM IST 2 min readThe change in club and the rain resulted in a sub-par performance from all the athletes (PTI Photo)The silver medal won by Dharambir Nain in the men’s club throw F-51 at the ongoing World Para Athletics Championships is India’s first club throw medal after the changes were made in the throwing equipment post Paris Paralympics.After the 2024 Paralympics, the World Paralympics Association (WPA) mandated that clubs should have an even weight distribution. “The club weighs around 400 grams but earlier the weight distribution used to be uneven. Earlier, a lot of athletes were using the clubs where the weight was concentrated on the lower part but now the weight is evenly distributed to make it fair for everyone,” Asian Para Games bronze medallist Amit Saroha told The Indian Express.With this move, WPA is moving towards the standardisation of clubs which is the case with other throwing events involving javelin, discus and shot put. “One of the reasons why clubs were never standardised is because it was not regulated like javelin, shot put and discus. They have more or less similar specifications unlike how clubs were,” Saroha said.In an email dated 10th July 2025, WPA mentioned, “Over the past few years, WPA has observed a growing trend where a significant number of non-compliant Clubs have been allowed in various competitions. To ensure consistency and fairness in all upcoming competitions, including the New Delhi 2025 World Para Athletics Championships, we want to clarify that only Clubs conforming to the specifications of WPA will be allowed.”The change in club and the rain resulted in a sub-par performance from all the athletes with only gold medallist Aleksandar Radisic of Serbia crossing the 30m mark. “The athletes will get used to it eventually. Rain also made it tough for them also. The glue was slippery and they were unable to grip it properly,” Saroha said.Pritish Raj works with sports team at The Indian Express' and is based out of New Delhi. ... Read More© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd