Asian Para Games: Nishad leads India’s gold rush as athletics delivers five golds
The Indian athletics contingent led the charge on Day 2 of the 2026 Asian Para Games, bagging five gold medals as Nishad Kumar completed a golden double with a Games record performance in the men’s T47 high jump on Tuesday.
Nishad cleared 2.04m to claim his second gold of the Games when he won the men’s T47 long jump title on Monday. The victory in the high jump made him only the third Indian to win two gold medals in a single edition of the Asian Para Games, joining armless archer Sheetal Devi and runner Ankur Dham who achieved the feat at the 2022 edition in Hangzhou.
India’s gold rush was fueled by other outstanding performances on the track and in the field. Deepthi Jeevanji successfully defended her women’s 400m T20 title in a record time of 56.36 seconds, while Simran won gold in the 200m T12 with a record time of 24.80 seconds. Pranav Soorma and Devender Kumar completed the haul of five golds with victories in their respective discus events.
India finished sixth overall on the second day with 35 medals: nine gold, 11 silver and 15 bronze. Athletics accounted for 20 of these medals, underscoring its importance to India’s campaign.
NISHAD’S GOLDEN DOUBLE
Nishad’s second gold in as many days was the highlight of India’s athletics campaign. After winning the T47 long jump title on Monday, the 26-year-old returned to the field on Tuesday and cleared 2.04m to win gold in the high jump, setting a new Games record.
This achievement placed Nishad in a select group of Indian athletes who have won two gold medals in a single edition of continental para sports. Dhama won the men’s 1500m T11 and 5000m T11 titles in Hangzhou, while Sheetal won gold in the women’s individual and mixed team events.
Nishad’s journey to the top was marked by resilience. His right arm was severed in a grass cutting machine accident on his family farm in Amb, Himachal Pradesh when he was six years old. He became one of India’s leading para-athletes when he won silver medals in the high jump at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Paralympics.
His double gold in Nagoya adds another major achievement to that record.
DEEPTHI, SIMRAN SET THE HEAT
Deepthi continued her dominance in the women’s 400m T20 to win her second consecutive Asian Para Games gold. The 23-year-old from Telangana clocked 56.36 seconds to set a new Games record, finishing well ahead of Japan’s Niina Kanno who took the silver in 58.92 seconds. Kanna’s compatriot Akane Kato claimed bronze in 1:00.26.
Former world champion Deepthi also won bronze at the Paris 2024 Paralympics. She won the world title in 2024 and remains one of India’s leading athletes in the T20 category, which includes athletes with intellectual disabilities.
Simran delivered another record breaking performance in the women’s 200m T12. The Paralympic bronze medalist took the gold in 24.80 seconds ahead of Iran’s Hajar Safarzadeh who finished in 25.02 seconds.
Tejalben Damor, competing in the Asian Para Games for the first time, completed India’s podium celebration by winning the bronze in 25.23 seconds, a personal best.
Simran’s win came despite struggling to recover from the heat. The sprinter, who is competing with new guide Shivam, also spoke about the difficulty of finding suitable vegetarian food during the Games. Still, she achieved a Games record to secure her first gold at a continental event. The next race is scheduled for the 100m, an event in which she won silver the previous year.
SOORMA, DEVENDER WIN FIELD GOLD
India’s success continued in the discus throw, with Pranav Soorma and Devender Kumar winning gold medals in their respective events.
Soorma won the F51/52/53 men’s combined discus throw with an Asian record performance of 11.66m. The 32-year-old, who won club gold in the F51 category at the previous Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, added another major title to his collection.
Ram Ratan Singh secured silver in the same event with a throw of 10.35 m. Iran’s Alireza Hemami took the bronze. The event brought together athletes from different classifications, with the final ranking decided using the Raza points system, which adjusts performances according to the athletes’ classifications. As a result, ranking is not determined by distance alone.
Devender Kumar led the Indian men’s discus throw F44/64. He won gold with a throw of 49.71m while Rakesh took silver and Pardeep Kumar claimed bronze. This haul gave India another complete podium in the field.
SHOOTERS, STRENGTHMEN ADD MEDALS
India’s medal tally went beyond athletics, with shooting and powerlifting contributing silver and bronze medals on Tuesday.
Manish Narwal bagged silver in men’s 10m air pistol SH1 with a score of 233.7. South Korea’s Jo Jeongdu won gold with an Asian Para Games record 241.3, while China’s Yang Chao won bronze.
Narwal’s silver also secured India a quota place for the Los Angeles Paralympics 2028. He became the third Indian para shooter to secure a quota place for the Games, after Mona Agarwal and Avani Lekhar, who won gold and silver in the women’s 10m air rifle SH1 on Monday.
Debutant Shrishti Arora bagged bronze in the women’s 10m SH1 air pistol final with a score of 214.7. The Indian shooting squad collected four medals after two days of competition.
In para powerlifting, Ashok Kumar Malik won silver in the men’s 65kg category with a best lift of 192kg. The 37-year-old improved the bronze he won in the previous year. China’s Zou Yi took the gold with 216kg, while Indonesia’s Margono finished third with 177kg.
SWIMMING, TABLE TENNIS DELIVERY
India added two more bronze medals in swimming through Himanshu Nandal and Niranjan Mukundan.
Himanshu finished third in the S11 men’s 400m freestyle in 5:10.91. The 22-year-old, who was born blind due to optic nerve failure, secured a podium finish in a field of four swimmers.
Niranjan won bronze in the men’s 200m individual medley SM7, clocking 2:57.01. The result added to the medal collection of the thirty-two-year-old competitor, who is competing in his fourth Asian Para Games in a row.
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Para table tennis also produced a significant haul for India, with five bronze medals through Bhavina Patel, Sonalben Patel, Baby Sahana Ravi, Prachi Pandey and Jehan Dorab Madan.
Sahana and Prachi made history by becoming the first Indian para table tennis players to win medals in the standing category at the Asian Para Games. Their achievements, along with the medals won by Bhavina, Sonalben and Jehan, helped India surpass their two-bronze tally from the previous edition of the competition.
ARCHERS, ROCKET THROWERS SECURE MEDALS
India’s prospects remained strong in archery and badminton, with athletes advancing to the final stages and securing more medals for the country.
Defending champion Sheetal Devi reached the women’s compound singles final after defeating Japan’s Shinohara Aya 145-137 in the semi-finals. Sheetal equaled the world record and created a new Asian qualifying record. She will face Singaporean Alim Nur Syahidah in the match for the gold.
Swati Chaudhary also reached the final in the women’s W1 event, defeating South Korea’s Eunhee Lee 6-2 in the semi-finals to secure at least the silver for India.
India’s women’s compound doubles team of Sheetal and Payal Nag, women’s recurve doubles pair of Pooja and Bhawna and men’s recurve doubles combination of Harvinder Singh and Vijay Sundi also advanced to their respective gold matches. The mixed recurve and compound mixed teams advanced to the semi-finals.
In badminton, world champion Pramod Bhagat and Paralympic gold medalist Kumar Nitesh advanced to the men’s singles SL3 semi-finals, securing medals for India. Bhagat defeated Japan’s Daisuke Fujihara 21-12, 21-10 and will face South Korea’s Lee Seunghu. Nitesh defeated compatriot Vikram Kumar 21-8, 21-8 and will face Indonesia’s Al Muh Imran.
India also secured places in the mixed doubles semi-finals through Bhagat and Manisha Ramadass in SL3-SU5 and Krishna Nagar and Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan in SH6. Nitesh and Thulasimathi Murugesan also advanced to the SL3-SU5 semi-finals.
With five gold medals in athletics, a growing tally across disciplines and further podium finishes secured in archery and badminton, India ended day two with momentum heading into the next round of competition.
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