Asian Para Games Day 1: Nishad Kumar and Avani Lekhara lead India’s challenge in Aichi-Nagoya

India opened the fifth Asian Para Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, on October 18 with Nishad Kumar and Avani Lekhara among the athletes leading the country’s Day 1 challenge. The Indian contingent, made up of 166 athletes across 10 disciplines, aimed for a strong start on the opening day of the October 18-24 event.

After a fourth-place finish at the Asian Games 2026, India’s para-athletes arrived with a line-up that includes Paralympic medallists, world champions and emerging talents such as archer Sheetal Devi, badminton players Pramod Bhagat and Suhas Yathiraj, and para-table tennis player Bhavina Patel. The team will compete across athletics, archery, badminton, boccia, para-cycling, para-swimming, powerlifting, shooting, para-table tennis and other events through October 24. Organisers scheduled a full day of ranking rounds, qualifying heats and finals as India begins its campaign.

Archery ranking rounds began early, scheduled from 4:30 AM IST, with Sheetal Devi and Payal Nag in the women’s compound category. Sheetal was leading with 470 points, having hit the X ring 22 times and scored 10 points on 17 occasions so far. In the men’s recurve ranking round Vijay Sundi was sixth and Harvinder Singh seventh, while South Korea’s Kwak Geonhwi led the standings with 438 points.

India’s men’s blind football team were set to meet Thailand in a preliminary-round match at 9:00 AM IST. In para cycling, Arshad Shaikh was scheduled for the men’s C1-2 3000m individual pursuit qualifying round at 7:19 AM IST. Boccia and para table tennis had multiple group-stage matches and knockout fixtures listed across the day.

Powerlifting offered early medal chances with Jaspreet Kaur in the women’s 45kg final at 1:00 PM IST and Manish Kumar and Paramjeet Kumar in the men’s 59kg final at 2:30 PM IST. The schedule noted these as India’s principal strength-discipline opportunities on Day 1.

Para swimming placed several Indians in finals and heats throughout the afternoon: Gopichand Lingutla and Niranjan Mukundan in the men’s 400m freestyle S7 final at 1:30 PM IST, Vaishnavi Jagtap in the women’s 400m freestyle S8 final at 1:38 PM IST, Himanshu Nandal in the men’s 100m backstroke S11 final at 2:47 PM IST and Ravi Budigina in the men’s 100m freestyle S13 final at 2:57 PM IST. Kapil Kumar and Ajay Bhosale were scheduled for the men’s 100m freestyle S10 final at 4:46 PM IST, and Swatik Patil was listed for the men’s 200m individual medley SM9 heats at 7:32 AM IST.

Para badminton featured a busy opening day: Pramod Bhagat faced South Korea’s Lee Seunghu in the men’s singles SL3 Group B match at 7:05 AM IST and was due to partner Sukant Kadam in the men’s doubles SL3-SU5 Group D against Indonesia’s Suryo Nugroho and Muh Al Imran at noon. Nitesh Kumar was scheduled to play South Korea’s Dongjae Joo in the men’s singles SL3 Group A at 9:15 AM IST and to partner Thulasimathi Murugesan in the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 Group B match against China’s Chen Pengfei and Huang Zixuan at 5:30 AM IST. Other Indian shuttlers named for Day 1 included Krishna Nagar, Sukant Kadam, Manasi Joshi, Thulasimathi Murugesan, Manisha Ramdass, Mandeep Kaur, Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan and Ruthick Ragupathi.

Shooting action began from 6:30 AM IST, with Avani Lekhara and Mona Agarwal competing in the women’s R2 10m air rifle standing SH1 qualification and Swaroop Unhalkar, Rakesh Nidagundi and Anandha Krishnan entered in the men’s R1 10m air rifle standing SH1 qualification at the same time. On the track and field programme Nishad Kumar was due in the men’s long jump T47 final at 1:40 PM IST and Deepthi Jeevanji in the women’s 400m T20 heats at 2:10 PM IST.

India’s evening session contained multiple finals: Ajeet Singh Yadav and Rinku Hooda in the men’s javelin throw F46 final at 3:35 PM IST, Radha Venkatesh and Soumya in the women’s 1500m T12/T13 final at 3:55 PM IST, Rakshita Raju and Ravanni Valasanaini in the women’s 1500m T11 final at 4:03 PM IST, Pranav Desai in the men’s 200m T64 final at 4:30 PM IST and Suchitra Parida in the women’s javelin throw F55/F56 qualification at 11:35 AM IST. India’s programme continues across the October 18-24 schedule with these finals and qualifiers representing the immediate next opportunities for medals.