Sandeep Shatters World Record as India Reaches 100 Medals at Asian Para Games

Historic Achievement for Indian Para-Athletes

In Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, on October 23, Indian para-athlete Sandeep made headlines by setting a new T44 world record, clinching gold in the men's 400m T64 event. His remarkable time of 52.28 seconds surpassed the previous record held by Saudi Arabia's Nour Alsana by over half a second. Ajay Kumar also shone, securing a bronze medal with a time of 53.61 seconds, contributing to India's impressive medal tally.

With these victories, India has reached a significant milestone of 100 medals at the 2026 Asian Para Games, which includes 25 gold, 32 silver, and 43 bronze medals. Currently, India stands fourth in the overall rankings, while China leads with a staggering 333 medals.

As the competition nears its conclusion, India is on track to exceed its previous best of 111 medals achieved at the 2022 Hangzhou edition. With just a day and a half left, the Indian team needs to secure 12 more medals to break this record.

The day was fruitful for India, highlighted by Nitesh Kumar's victory over Pramod Bhagat in the men's singles SL3 badminton final, where Nitesh won gold with scores of 21-18, 21-16, while Pramod took home silver.

In another badminton event, Naveen Sivakumar triumphed against Indonesia's Fredy Setiawan, winning gold in the men's singles SL4 final with scores of 21-9, 21-17. Additionally, in para archery, Harvinder Singh and Vijay Sundi secured gold in the men's recurve doubles by defeating China 5-1.

India also earned several silver medals, including Thulasimathi Murugesan's close match against China's Yang Qiuxia in the women's singles SU5 badminton final, where she lost 18-21, 11-21. Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan faced a similar fate, falling to 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 claimed silver after a loss to China. Parmod Bijarnia maintained his silver medal position in the men's 1500m T46 event, finishing in 4:09.65, while Nimisha Suresh earned silver in the women's long jump T47 with a best jump of 5.37 meters.

India also secured a 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.

In the women's 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 event, Avani Lekhara qualified first for the finals, while her teammate Mona Agarwal finished sixth in the qualification round.

As the Indian team continues to excel across various sports, they aim to surpass their previous medal tally before the Games conclude.