Medal storm in India! 24 medals, five golds as Nishad Kumar and Deepthi Jeevanji shine at Asian Para Games

Nishad Kumar and Deepthi Jeevanji (PTI Photo) NEW DELHI: India produced a stunning medal rush on Day 2 of the 2026 Asian Para Games, collecting 24 medals, including five golds, as athletics propelled the country’s campaign in Aichi-Nagoya on Tuesday. Nishad Kumar led the event with a second gold in as many days, while Deepthi Jeevanji reaffirmed her continental dominance with a Games triumph.At the end of the day’s competition, India finished sixth in the standings with 35 medals – nine gold, 11 silver and 15 bronze. Athletics has so far won 20 medals for India, underscoring its importance to the country’s campaign.Along with the established stars, budding athletes also put in encouraging performances, while archery and badminton provided further reasons for optimism by securing more medals for India in the coming days.

Nishad, Deepthi lead India’s golden attack

Nishad became only the third Indian to win two gold medals in a single edition of the Asian Para Games after adding the men’s high jump T47 title to his long jump gold on Monday. The two-time Paralympic silver medalist cleared 2.04m and set a new Games record.He joins Ankur Dham and armless archer Sheetal Devi who won two golds each at the 2023 Hangzhou edition.Deepthi set the tone early and won the women’s 400m T20 title in a games record 56.36 seconds. The 23-year-old from Telangana, a former world champion and bronze medalist from the Paris Paralympics, clinched her second gold in a row at the Asian Para Games.The golden run continued with Simran winning the women’s 200m T12 title in a Games record 24.80 seconds. Despite battling fatigue and limited vegetarian options, the Paralympic bronze medalist gave a commanding performance. Games debutant Tejalben Damor added bronze in the same event with a personal best of 25.23 seconds.Pranav Soorma won gold in men’s F51/52/53 discus throw with an Asian record of 11.66m, while compatriot Ram Ratan Singh won silver with 10.35m. Devender Kumar completed India’s haul of five golds for the day by winning men’s F44/64 discus throw.

Shooting, powerlifting and swimming contribute to success

India collected two medals in shooting, with Manish Narwal winning silver in the men’s 10m air pistol SH1 and Shrishti Arora taking bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol SH1 event.Narwal, a silver medalist at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, shot 233.7 in the final to finish behind South Korea’s Jo Jeongdu. His performance also secured India a quota place for the Paralympics in Los Angeles 2028. India’s tally rose to four medals after two days, including one gold, two silver and one bronze.In powerlifting, Ashok Kumar Malik won silver in the men’s 65kg category with a best lift of 192kg. The 37-year-old native of Haryana improved on the bronze he won at the previous edition.Swimming contributed two more bronze medals. Born blind due to optic nerve failure, Himanshu Nandal clocked 5:10.91 to finish third in the men’s S11 400m freestyle event. Niranjan Mukundan followed with bronze in the men’s 200m individual medley SM7, finishing in 2:57.01.Para table tennis also showed a great performance. Ravi Baby Sahana and Prachi Pandey became the first Indian players to win medals in the standing category at the Asian Para Games. They were joined on the podium by Paralympic medalist Bhavina Patel, Sonalben Patel and Jehan Madan, taking India to five bronze medals in the competition.Bhavina lost to China’s Zhang Bian in the Class 4-5 semifinals, while Sonalben went down to South Korea’s Jiyu Yoon in Class 3. Sahana lost to China’s Mao Jingdian in Class 9 and Prachi was defeated by Iraq’s Najlah Al-Dayyeni in Class 6.

Archery secures five medals; badminton stars reach the last four

India’s medal tally will continue to grow, with Para Archery securing at least five medals for the country through finalists in the individual, pairs and mixed team events.Defending champion Sheetal Devi stormed into the women’s mixed final after beating Japan’s Shinohara Aya 145-137. Sheetal, who equaled the world record and created a new Asian qualifying record, will take on Singapore’s Ali Nur Syahidah for the gold.Games debutant Swati Chaudhary also ensured India at least a silver after beating South Korea’s Eunhee Lee 6-2 in the women’s W1 semi-final.India’s women’s doubles pair of Sheetal and Payal Nag defeated Thailand’s Phannibha Srathongmaew and Wasan Khuthawisap 151-135 to reach the gold medal match. Pooja and Bhawna advanced to the women’s doubles final after a 6-2 win over Iran’s Mohadeseh Babahabib and Rahimi Ghahderijani Somayeh. Harvinder Singh and Vijay Sundi also advanced to the men’s doubles final, defeating South Korea 5-4.The recurve mixed team of Harvinder and Bhawna defeated Thailand 6-0 to reach the semi-finals, while Sheetal and Toman Kumar advanced in the mixed team after beating Japan 154-147.Badminton also guaranteed more medals for India. World champion Pramod Bhagat defeated Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara 21-12, 21-10 to reach the SL3 men’s singles semi-finals, extending his record podium finish at the Para Asiad to five consecutive editions. He will face South Korea’s Lee Seunghu on Thursday.Paralympic gold medalist Kumar Nitesh also progressed to the last four by defeating compatriot Vikram Kumar 21-8, 21-8. He will face Al Muh Imran from Indonesia in the semi-finals.With five golds already secured on Tuesday and more medals secured in archery and badminton, India ended the second day with momentum firmly on their side as the campaign gathered momentum in Aichi-Nagoya.