Deepthi Jeevanji wins 400m T20 gold at 2026 Asian Para Games in Nagoya
Deepthi Jeevanji, a 23-year-old from Telangana, won the women's 400m T20 title at the 2026 Asian Para Games in Nagoya on Tuesday, clocking 56.36 seconds to set a new Games record. She had earlier set a Games record in the heats and improved when it mattered to secure the gold.
Jeevanji's victory continued a rapid rise on the international para-athletics stage: she won the 400m T20 at the 2023 Asian Para Games, claimed gold at the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe with a 55.07 world-record time at the time, and took bronze in the 400m T20 at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, becoming the first Indian athlete with an intellectual impairment to win a Paralympic medal. Those performances established her among India's leading para-athletes.
Her introduction to competitive athletics came at 15 when Sports Authority of India coach N Ramesh spotted her at a state-level meet in Telangana and began training her. She won bronze at the 2019 Asian Youth Championships in Hong Kong and followed that with two gold medals in the 100m and 200m at the 2020 Khelo India Youth Games.
In Nagoya's heats Jeevanji ran 57.57 seconds, which set an Asian Para Games record at that stage, and she lowered that mark by more than a second in the final. The improvement from the heats to the final was a decisive factor in securing the title.
Japan's Niina Kanno finished second in 58.92 seconds, while compatriot Akane Kato took bronze in 1:00.26; Kanno crossed the line more than two seconds after Jeevanji. The margin between first and second underlined the gap in the final placings.
The T20 classification covers athletes with intellectual impairments, which can affect information processing, concentration and the execution of race plans. In the 400m event, athletes must balance speed with the effort required to sustain it over a full lap.
Jeevanji's gold was India's first of the day and its fifth overall at the Games, and the win adds to the growing list of achievements for an athlete who has risen quickly through international para athletics.