New Delhi
In the Asian Para Games 2026, Indian players gave a stellar performance on the very first day and won a flurry of medals. India won a total of 11 medals on Monday, including four gold, five silver and two bronze. With this brilliant start, India reached fourth place in the medal table.
Mona Aggarwal in shooting, Nishad Kumar, Soumya and Rinku in para athletics brought honor to the country by winning gold medals. Meanwhile, in archery, Sheetal Devi impressed everyone with her performance by equaling the world record. Along with Rakesh Kumar, he also created a new world record in the mixed team event.
Mona gets gold in shooting, Avni gets silver
The series of medals for India started with shooting. Mona Aggarwal made a brilliant comeback and won the gold medal in the women’s 10 meter air rifle SH1 final. Mona, bronze medalist of the 2024 Paris Paralympics, moved up from sixth place to score 250.0 points and created an Asian Para Games record.
Two-time Paralympic champion Avani Lekhara stood second with 249.6 points. The match between the two Indian players was very close. Mona won gold by a margin of just 0.4 points.
With this medal, India also secured the second quota place for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics. Mona had already secured a quota by winning silver at the World Shooting Para Sports Championship in Changwon, South Korea last month.
Nishad, Soumya and Rinku shined in athletics
By evening, the performance of Indian players was seen in para athletics. Two-time Paralympic silver medalist Nishad Kumar won gold in the men’s long jump T47 event with a jump of 7.11 meters. The special thing was that Nishad had participated in an international long jump competition for the first time. In his childhood, his right hand was amputated in an accident with a lawnmower, but he created history with his passion and hard work.
In the women’s 1500 meter T12/T13 event, visually impaired runner Soumya won the gold medal with a personal best of 5 minutes 12.39 seconds. India’s Venkatesh Radha won silver with a timing of 5 minutes 30.90 seconds.
India captured both gold and silver in the men’s javelin throw F46 event. Rinku stood first with a throw of 65.11 metres, while Ajit Singh stood second with an effort of 65.02 metres. This was the best performance of the season for both the Indian players.
India’s Ravanni Valasaini also got the bronze medal in the T11 competition for visually impaired players. Ravanni moved up to third place after Rakshitha Raju, who was originally ranked third, was disqualified due to a technical violation.
Kokila gets silver in judo, Kapil gets bronze
Indian players also won two medals in Judo. Visually impaired Kokila won silver medal in women’s J2-52 kg category. In the final, she had to face defeat against Ibike Ulanbek Kyzygy of Kyrgyzstan.
Kapil Parmar won the bronze medal in the men’s J1-70 kg category. After losing 0-1 to Junedi of Indonesia in the semi-finals, Kapil defeated Ahnaf Rafali Shidki of Indonesia 1-0 in the bronze medal match.
Ravi won silver in swimming
In swimming, India’s Ravi Karthik Budigina won the silver medal in the men’s 100 meter freestyle S13 event with a timing of 56.68 seconds. Less visually impaired players participate in this category.
Medals assured in table tennis and badminton also
In table tennis, India secured medals in three categories. Paralympic silver medalist Bhavina Patel defeated China’s Zhang Miao 3-1 to reach the semi-finals of Class 4-5. Sonalben defeated Darrat Asayut of Thailand 3-1 in the quarter-finals of Women’s Class 3.
Prachi Pandey entered the semi-finals in Women’s Class 6 by defeating Kanokporn Fathumchai of Thailand 11-5, 11-4, 11-13, 12-10. With this victory, India ensured its first medal of the Asian Para Games in Class 6.
In badminton, the pair of Nitish Kumar and Thulasimathi Murugesan remained undefeated in Group B of the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 category and reached the semi-finals. The Indian pair defeated China’s Chen Pengfei and Huang Xuan 21-4, 21-18. This ensured another medal for India.
Paris Paralympic champion Nitesh defeated South Korea’s Ju Dongjae 21-13, 21-15 in men’s singles SL3. At the same time, Ruthik Raghupathi defeated Somsiri Preecha of Thailand 21-12, 21-12 in the men’s singles SU5 category.