India’s para-athletes surpass expectations with best ever haul of 114 at Asian Para Games

India’s para-athletes surpassed expectations to deliver their best-ever show at the Asian Para Games, ending their campaign with a mammoth haul of 114 medals, including 30 gold, after a record-shattering final-day flourish on Friday.

India sent 168 athletes to this edition, nearly half the contingent that went to the Hangzhou Games in 2023 and returned with the then-best-ever 108 medals, including 27 gold.

For the first time in the ongoing Games, para-athletics was not the dominant gold contributor, with shuttlers, archers and shooter Mona Agarwal doing their bit to shore up the overall tally on India’s final day, which closed with 30 gold, 35 silver, and 49 bronze.

India are currently fourth on the table, but it could change as finals in a few events are on Saturday, and the country has no presence in those competitions.

On the last day of their campaign, India collected nine gold medals, their highest single-day haul in the ongoing edition, with top finishes registered in archery, shooting, badminton and athletics.

Athletics, as always, drove the haul, snaring 65 medals in all, 12 more than in 2023.

On Friday, though, shuttlers shared the limelight, delivering three gold medals, including individual top finishes by Paris Paralympic champion Nitesh Kumar and Naveen Sivakumar.

While the seasoned Nitesh clinched gold in the men’s singles SL3 class and silver in the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 event, Games debutant Naveen topped the men’s singles SL4 category.

The 31-year-old Nitesh delivered a clinical performance to beat compatriot and Tokyo Paralympic gold-medallist Pramod Bhagat 21-18, 21-16 in the men’s singles final, then secured mixed doubles silver with partner Thulasimathi Murugesan.

Naveen then defeated Indonesia’s Fredy Setiawan 21-9, 21-17 to claim the top prize in his classification.

Murugesan meanwhile capped a memorable day with gold and two silver medals, clinching the women’s doubles title.

The 24-year-old Paris Paralympics silver medallist combined with Manasi Joshi to win the women’s doubles SL3-SU5 title, beating China’s Yang Qiuxia and Xiao Zuxian 21-16 21-13 in the final.

Thulasimathi had earlier won silver in women’s singles SU5, losing 18-21 11-21 to Yang Qiuxia in the final.

In athletics, Sandeep and Haney won gold medals with world record performances in the men’s 400m T64 and men’s javelin throw F37/38 events. Another standout performance was from the reigning Paralympic and world champion Sumit Antil, who led an Indian sweep of the men’s javelin throw F42-44/61-64 combined event with a best effort of 72.46m.

Finishing behind him were Mahendra Gurjar (59.03m) and Sanjay Sandeep Sargar (64.48m). Gurjar finished ahead of Sargar due to the more severe nature of his disability in the classifications that cover congenital limb difference or surgical amputation.

The wheelchair-bound Pranav Soorma picked up the last gold of the day for India by winning the men’s club throw event with a Games record effort of 32.87m.

Earlier, Sandeep clocked 52.28 seconds, a world record, to win the 400m T64 final. Compatriot Ajay Kumar took bronze in 53.61 seconds, a Games Record.

In the javelin throw F37/38 final, Haney threw a world-record 60.49m to win gold.

Earlier, Nimisha Chakkungalparambil and Parmod Bijarnia claimed silver medals in the women’s long jump T47 and men’s 1500m T46 competitions, respectively. In men’s 1500m, Parmod claimed the silver after clocking 4:09.65.

Magnificent Mona in shooting

Para-shooter Mona Agarwal produced a terrific show to shatter the world record and win the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 competition.

She shot 357.5 at the Aichi Prefecture General Shooting Gallery to set the new record and claim her second gold medal of the mega-event.

Agarwal had secured India’s first 2028 Paralympic quota earlier this year.

The SH1 category in Paralympic shooting is for athletes with lower-limb or upper-limb impairments who can support the weight of the firearm with their own arms.

Earlier, Agarwal had won gold in the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 event with a Games-record score of 250.0, while Avani Lekhara bagged silver with 249.6 points.

Harvinder shines in archery

Paralympic champion Harvinder Singh and his debut partner Vijay Sundi clinched the men’s doubles gold with an assured performance, while India’s women’s doubles team settled for silver in the recurve archery events.

Harvinder and Vijay defeated China’s Yun Duo and Zhao Lixue 5-1 in the final. Bhawna Choudhary and Pooja Jatyan lost to China’s Gao Zihan and Wang Xueqian 0-6 in the women’s doubles final to settle for the silver.

Swimming surprise

The Indian swimming contingent exceeded expectations, finishing with 11 medals, including three silver, at the mega-event.

On the last day, Himanshu Nandal completed a hat-trick of bronze medals, adding another podium finish in men’s 100m freestyle S11.

The 22-year-old, born blind due to optic nerve failure, clocked 1:59.90 to finish behind Japan’s Uchu Tomita (58.22 seconds) and China’s Chuanzhen Sun (58.70 seconds).

Nandal had earlier won bronze medals in the men’s 400m freestyle and 100m breaststroke S11 events.

Ravi Budigina also won three medals at these Games, two silver and one bronze.