New Delhi .Indian para players have set a new national record by performing brilliantly in the Asian Para Games 2026. The Indian contingent won a total of 114 medals in the competition, which include 30 gold, 35 silver and 49 bronze medals. With this, India left behind its previous record of 108 medals made in Hangzhou in 2023. On the last day of the competition, Indian players significantly increased the country's medal tally by winning nine gold medals.
This time India had sent a team of 168 players to the Asian Para Games. This was almost half the size of the Indian contingent competing in 2023. Despite this, the players achieved better results with their performance than the previous edition. This performance of India shows the growing competitive ability of the country in Para sports.
India stood fourth in the medal tally during the competition. However, the final matches of some events were yet to be held on Saturday, in which Indian players were not participating. In such a situation, there was a possibility of change in India's position in the final medal table.
Athletics was the sport with the highest number of medals for the Indian contingent. Indian players won a total of 65 medals in this event, which was 12 more than the medals won in 2023. Consistently improved performance in athletics played a key role in taking India's total medal tally to a record high. Apart from this, Indian players also achieved important achievements in badminton, archery and shooting.
The performance of Indian players in badminton was particularly noteworthy. India won three gold medals in this game. In the final of men's singles SL3 category, Paralympic champion Nitish Kumar won the gold medal by defeating compatriot Pramod Bhagat 21-18, 21-16. Pramod Bhagat is the gold medalist of Tokyo Paralympics. Apart from this, Nitish also won a silver medal in the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 category with Thulasimathi Murugesan.
Naveen Shivakumar, who is participating in the Asian Para Games for the first time, also impressed with his performance. He won the gold medal by defeating Freddy Setiawan of Indonesia 21-9, 21-17 in the men's singles SL4 category final. This achievement was one of the major results of the competition for the Indian badminton team.
In women's doubles, the pair of Thulasimathi Murugesan and Mansi Joshi increased India's medal tally by winning the gold medal. The duo defeated China's Yang Qixia and Xiao Xuejian 21-16, 21-13 in the final. Thulasimathi also won a silver medal in the women's singles SU5 category. In the final, she lost against China's Yang Qixia 18-21, 11-21. In this way he ended the competition with one gold and two silver medals.
The performances of shooter Mona Agarwal and archers also contributed to increasing India's gold medal tally. Overall, the achievement of 114 medals including 30 gold surpassed India's previous best performance at the Asian Para Games. The nine gold medals won on the final day made the campaign memorable and helped the Indian contingent set its own new record in the competition.