India target record Asian Para Games haul on Oct 23 in Aichi-Nagoya
India will target a record medal haul on Friday, October 23, 2026, at the Asian Para Games in Aichi-Nagoya after its medal count reached 88, leaving the country 21 short of its best-ever return at the continental event. Day 5 features multiple finals and medal events that could prove decisive for India’s campaign.
Para-athletics is a principal area of hope for India, with javelin specialist Sumit Antil named among the entrants alongside Paralympic gold medallists Navdeep Singh and Dharambir Nain. Antil has won Paralympic, World and Asian titles. Para-badminton includes an all-Indian men's singles final between Pramod Bhagat and Nitesh Kumar. Paralympic shooting champions Avani Lekhara and Mona Agarwal and para-archer Harvinder Singh are also scheduled for medal events.
Para-badminton finals begin at 5:30 AM IST with the women's singles SU5 gold-medal match between Thulasimathi Murugesan and Yang Quixia, followed at 6:20 AM IST by the men's singles SL3 final between Pramod Bhagat and Nitesh Kumar. Naveen Sivakumar faces Fredy Setiawan in the men's singles SL4 final at 7:00 AM IST, and the women's singles SH6 final at 7:05 AM IST pairs Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan with Li Fengmei. The mixed doubles SL3-SU5 final is set for 3:00 PM IST (Thulasimathi Murugesan and Nitesh Kumar vs Leani Oktila and Hikmat Ramdani), and the women's doubles SL3-SU5 final is listed as TBD (Thulasimathi Murugesan and Manasi Joshi vs Yang Quixia and Xiao Zuxian).
Indian entries in athletics appear throughout the day: Parmod Bijarnia in the men's 1500m T46 final at 6:17 AM IST and Nimisha Suresh in the women's long jump T47 final at 6:30 AM IST. Praveen Sharma contests the men's discus F11 final at 6:35 AM IST and Amisha Rawat the women's shot put F46 final at 7:25 AM IST. Haney is scheduled for the men's javelin F37/38 final at 8:00 AM IST, Ajay Kumar and Sandeep for the men's 400m T64 final at 8:05 AM IST, and the men's javelin F42-F44/F61-F64 final at 4:46 PM IST features Sumit Antil, Sandip Sargar and Mahendra Gurjar.
Additional athletics events include the men's 5000m T12/T13 final with Sharath Makanahalli at 2:30 PM IST, the men's club throw F51 final at 3:30 PM IST with Pranav Soorma, Dharambir Nain and Amit Kumar Saroha, the men's javelin F40/41 final at 3:10 PM IST with Ravi Rongali and Navdeep Singh, and sprint events where Sandeep runs in the men's 100m T44 round 1 heat 2 at 2:21 PM IST and is listed for the 100m T44 final at 5:10 PM IST (subject to qualification). The men's 200m T35 and T37 finals feature Anubhav Choudhary at 3:50 PM IST and Rakeshbhai Bhatt at 3:57 PM IST respectively.
Archery, shooting, powerlifting, cycling, table tennis and boccia provide further medal opportunities: the recurve women's doubles gold-medal match is at 5:55 AM IST (Pooja Jatyan and Bhawna Choudhary vs Wang Xueqian and Gao Zihan), the recurve men's doubles gold-medal match at 6:45 AM IST (Harvinder Singh and Vijay Sundi vs Zhao Lixue and Yun Duo), and the recurve mixed team semifinal at 9:20 AM IST (Harvinder Singh and Bhawna Choudhary vs Zhao Lixue and Wang Xueqian) with potential bronze and gold mixed team matches at 10:10 AM IST and 10:35 AM IST (subject to qualification). Shooting's P3 Open 25m Pistol SH1 qualification—precision is at 6:15 AM IST with Nihal Singh and Amir Ahmad Bhat, the R8 Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1 qualification at 6:30 AM IST with Avani Lekhara and Mona Agarwal and the R8 final at 9:15 AM IST (subject to qualification); P3 rapid qualification is at 1:00 PM IST and the P3 final at 2:30 PM IST.
Para powerlifting's women's team event lists Kasthuri Rajamani, Suman Devi and Jaspreet Kaur in heats at 11:00 AM IST, a head-to-head match at 11:50 AM IST, and bronze and gold matches at 12:35 PM IST and 12:50 PM IST (subject to qualification). Cycling's men's C1-3 road race final with Arshad Shaikh is at 8:30 AM IST. Table tennis has Jehan Madan and Shubham Wadhwa facing Jincheol Park and Kyunghyun Kim (South Korea) in men's doubles MD4 Group A at 6:45 AM IST, and boccia's mixed pairs BC3 Pool A sees Anjali Devi and Sachin Chamaria vs Chinese Taipei at 7:40 AM IST.
India's para-swimmers also feature across morning and afternoon sessions: Chaitanya Kulkarni swims in the men's 400m freestyle S6 heat 1 at 6:44 AM IST and the men's 50m freestyle S6 heat 2 at 7:35 AM IST with the men's 400m freestyle S6 final at 1:49 PM IST and the men's 50m freestyle S6 final at 3:25 PM IST (finals subject to qualification). Abdul Quadir Indori appears in the men's 50m backstroke S5 heat 2 at 7:05 AM IST and the S5 final at 2:02 PM IST (subject to qualification). Ravi Karthik Budigina contests the men's 200m individual medley SM13 final at 2:12 PM IST and Himanshu Nandal the men's 100m freestyle S11 final at 2:50 PM IST, while Tejas Nandakumar and Suyash Jadhav are listed for the men's 50m freestyle S7 final at 3:17 PM IST and Jahangir Molla for the men's 100m butterfly S12 final at 4:01 PM IST.
Friday's schedule stretches from early-morning finals at 5:30 AM IST through evening medal events and includes multiple gold-medal matches across athletics, badminton, archery, shooting, swimming, powerlifting, cycling, table tennis and boccia. The outcomes on October 23 will determine how close India comes to closing the 21-medal gap to its best-ever Asian Para Games return.