Asian Para Games 2026 Day 2: Sheetal Devi matches world record; Sheetal and Payal top women's compound doubles

On Tuesday at the Asian Para Games, Sheetal Devi matched the women's compound world record with 704 points in the ranking round and, alongside Payal Nag, topped the women's compound doubles with a combined 1,379 points. The Indian duo are scheduled to compete in the women's compound doubles quarterfinals.

India's overall medal count at the Asian Para Games rose to 22 — five gold, eight silver and nine bronze — after day two, up from 11 medals at the end of the opening day (four gold, five silver and two bronze). The country won four medals in para table tennis on Tuesday, and added medals across athletics, powerlifting, shooting and field events.

In para table tennis, Baby Sahana Ravi and Prachi Pandey each won bronze. Bhavina Patel, the Tokyo Paralympics silver medallist, took bronze after losing 0-3 to China’s Zhang Bian in the semi-finals, with game scores 7-11, 5-11, 7-11. Sonalben Patel secured a bronze in the women's singles Class 3 event after her semi-final defeat to South Korea’s Yoon Jiyu, 7-11, 5-11, 6-11.

Pradeep Kumar won silver and Ayush Verma claimed bronze in the men's javelin throw F53/F54 event, and Praveen Sharma added bronze in the men's shot put F11. Deepthi Jeevanji captured gold in the women's 400m T20 in a Games-record time of 56.36 seconds.

Ashok earned silver in para powerlifting with a best lift of 192kg — opening at 187kg, improving to 192kg and failing at 201kg — marking India's first para powerlifting medal at these Games. In shooting, Manish Narwal took silver in the men's 10m air pistol SH1 final with 233.7, finishing behind South Korea's Jo Jeongdu who set an Asian Para Games record with 241.3; Narwal's silver also secured him a quota place for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics, while Rudransh Khandelwal finished seventh among eight competitors.

Five of India's silver medals came from Avani Lekhara in shooting, judoka Kokila in women's J2 -52kg, Ajeet Singh Yadav in the javelin F46, Radha Venkatesh in the women's 1500m T12/T13 and swimmer Ravi Karthik Budigina in the men's 100m freestyle S13. Kapil Parmar won bronze in men's J1 -70kg judo, and Ravanni Valasanaini was promoted to bronze in the women's 1500m T11 after Rakshita Raju was disqualified; the precise grounds for Rakshita’s disqualification should be checked against the official technical decision.

Sheetal Devi's 704 in qualification positioned her among the day's standout performers in archery, and the pair's 1,379 combined score places them well as the doubles move into the knockout phase; a win in the quarterfinals would move them closer to the medal matches. The opening day had already produced several gold-medal wins led by shooter Mona Agarwal, long jumper Nishad Kumar, middle-distance runner Soumya Kumar and javelin thrower Rinku Hooda, with India also collecting medals in para-swimming and para-judo.

Sheetal Devi and Payal Nag will contest the women's compound doubles quarterfinals as the archery competition advances, while the men's javelin F53/F54 event continues with Pradeep Kumar and Ayush Verma remaining in contention.