India Achieves Historic 100 Medals at the 2026 Asian Para Games
Historic Achievement at the 2026 Asian Para Games
Aichi-Nagoya [Japan], October 23: Indian para-athlete Sandeep has set a remarkable new T44 world record, clinching gold in the men's 400m T64 event. His impressive time of 52.28 seconds surpassed the previous record held by Saudi Arabia's Nour Alsana by over half a second. Additionally, Ajay Kumar secured a bronze medal, contributing to India's milestone of reaching 100 medals at the 2026 Asian Para Games.
With these two medals, India's total now stands at 100, which includes 25 gold, 32 silver, and 43 bronze medals. Currently, India ranks fourth in the medal standings, with China leading the count at 333 medals. India is on track to potentially exceed its best-ever medal tally of 111, achieved during the 2022 Hangzhou edition in 2023. With just one and a half days left in the competition, the Indian team needs 12 more medals to break this record.
Success in Badminton and Archery
India had another successful day, highlighted by Nitesh Kumar's victory over fellow Indian Pramod Bhagat in the men's singles SL3 badminton final, winning gold with scores of 21-18, 21-16, while Pramod took home silver. Naveen Sivakumar also added to the medal tally by defeating Indonesia's Fredy Setiawan 21-9, 21-17 in the men's singles SL4 final. In para archery, Harvinder Singh and Vijay Sundi triumphed in the men's recurve doubles, defeating their Chinese opponents 5-1.
Additional Medal Highlights
India also secured several silver medals during the day. Thulasimathi Murugesan faced a tough match against China's Yang Qiuxia in the women's singles SU5 badminton final, losing 18-21, 11-21. Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan was defeated by China's Li Fengmei in the women's singles SH6 final with scores of 12-21, 13-21. In para archery, the women's recurve doubles team of Pooja Jatyan and Bhawna Choudhary earned silver after a loss to China.
Parmod Bijarnia maintained his silver medal position in the men's 1500m T46 event, finishing with a time of 4:09.65, while Nimisha Suresh achieved silver in the women's long jump T47 with a best jump of 5.37 meters. Additionally, India claimed bronze in men's doubles Class MD4 para table tennis, with Jehan Madan and Shubham Wadhwa falling to South Korea's Jincheol Park and Kyunghyun Kim. Avani Lekhara qualified first for the final of the women's 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 event, while Mona Agarwal finished sixth in the qualification round. As the Indian contingent continues to excel across various sports, they aim to surpass their previous best medal tally before the conclusion of the Games.