Asian Para Games: Kapil Parmar bounces back from semi-final defeat to claim bronze

India’s Kapil Parmar won the bronze medal in the men’s J1 70kg event at the Asian Para Games after defeating Indonesia’s Rafli Ahnaf Shidqi on ippon in just one minute and nine seconds on Monday.The bronze medalist from the Paris Paralympics secured India’s third medal on the opening day of the competition, adding another podium finish to his international career.Kapil had earlier booked his place in the semi-finals by defeating Mongolian Bat-erdene Baatarsuren in four minutes and 53 seconds. However, he lost to Indonesia’s Junaedi on ippon in the last four before coming back to win the bronze medal match.Earlier in the day, visually impaired judoka Kokila secured India’s first medal after defeating China’s Yi Liu 1-0 in the women’s J2 52kg semi-final. Kokila, who won bronze in the 48kg category at the previous edition in Hangzhou, registered one waza-ari and one yuko against her Chinese opponent, who managed one waza-ari. He will now compete in the final.India then secured a 1-2 finish in the women’s 10m air rifle (SH1), with Mona Agarwal winning the gold and Avani Lekhara the silver.Mona, a bronze medalist from the Paris 2024 Paralympics, staged a thrilling comeback in the final to set an Asian Para Games record of 250.0 points. She edged compatriot Avani, the defending champion and two-time Paralympic gold medallist, by 0.4 points as Avani finished on 249.6.Mona’s gold also secured India the second quota place for the Los Angeles Paralympics in 2028. She had already earned one quota place at the WSPS World Championships in Changwon, South Korea last month, where she won silver.