Asian Para Games: India bag 11 medals on Day 1 as Nishad Kumar and Mona Agarwal lead four-gold haul

Nishad Kumar and Mona Agarwal (Image credit: X) NEW DELHI: India opened the Asian Para Games in spectacular fashion by bagging 11 medals, including four golds, in shooting, athletics, judo and swimming to finish fourth overall on Monday.Established stars Mona Agarwal and Nishad Kumar led the race, while middle distance runner Soumya and javelin thrower Rinku also finished on the top podium. India celebrated three 1-2 finishes, with the compatriots sharing the gold and silver medals in shooting, athletics and javelin.The opening day also saw encouraging news from archery, table tennis and badminton, with Sheetal Devi equaling the world record in the qualifying round of the women’s medley and several Indian rowers and shuttlers securing medals by reaching the semi-finals.

Mona defeats Avani in shooting thriller

The medal rush began with Mona’s rousing comeback in the SH1 women’s 10m air rifle final. The Paris Paralympic bronze medalist climbed from sixth place to set an Asian Para Games record of 250.0 points, beating compatriot Avani Lekhar by just 0.4 points.Avani, the defending champion and two-time Paralympic gold medallist, settled for silver with 249.6 points, giving India a first 1-2 finish on the day.Mona dominated qualifying with 629.1 points, setting an Asian Para Games qualifying record, while Avani was second with 626.4.The win also secured India the second quota spot for the Paralympics in Los Angeles 2028. Mona had already earned one quota for the World Para Sports Shooting Championship in Changwon, South Korea last month, where she won silver.

Nishad, Soumya and Rinku power athletics gold rush

The athletics arena produced three gold medals and a number of podium finishes as India continued its strong start.Nishad, a two-time Paralympic silver medallist, produced a memorable performance to win the men’s long jump T47 event with an effort of 7.11m. It was the Indian’s first international long jump competition, making his gold medal all the more special.Nishad lost his right arm in a lawnmower accident when he was six years old. He still dominated the competition, twice posting 7.11m and finishing ahead of Uzbekistan’s Omadbek Khasanov, who took silver with a season’s best of 6.99m.Soumya added another gold in the women’s 1500m T12/T13, clocking a personal best of 5:12.39. Running alongside guide Bharath Kumar, she finished ahead of compatriot Venkatesh Radha, who took silver in 5:30.90. The result secured India’s second 1-2 finish on the day.Japan’s Mana Sasaki posted a faster time of 5:12.15 in the T13 category but finished behind the Indian athletes in the combined event after the results were determined by points based on classification.India completed their third-place finish of 1-2 in the men’s javelin F46, where Rinku secured the gold with a season’s best of 65.11m, followed closely by Ajeet Singh with 65.02m, also a season’s best, to claim the silver. Indonesian Rizal Bagus Saktyono won bronze with a personal best throw of 55.30m.India also won bronze in the T11 women’s 1500m event through Ravanni Valasanaini, who clocked a personal best of 5:41.85 to finish third. Her compatriot Rakshitha Raju, who clocked a faster time of 5:31.45, was disqualified.

The judokas add silver and bronze; swimming chips in

The other two medals were contributed by Indian visually impaired judokas. Kokila won silver in the women’s J2 52kg category after losing to Kyrgyzstan’s Aibike Ulanbek Kyzy in the final.Kapil Parmar won bronze in the men’s J1 70kg division. After losing the semi-final 0-1 to Indonesia’s Junaedi, Kapil bounced back in the bronze play-off to beat fellow Indonesian Ahnaf Rafli Shidqi 1-0.India’s medal tally grew further as Ravi Karthik Budigina won silver in the men’s 100m freestyle S13 para swimming event. In 56.68 seconds, he finished behind Uzbekistan’s Egor Bolotov, who won gold in 52.90 seconds. Kazakhstan’s Viktor Volkov took the bronze in 57.23 seconds.These results gave India a confirmed medal tally of four gold, five silver and two bronze by the end of the opening day.