Oct 19: India win 11 medals, including four golds, at Asian Para Games in Nagoya

India collected 11 medals — four gold, five silver and two bronze — at the Asian Para Games in Nagoya on Monday, October 19, with Mona Agarwal and Nishad Kumar among the gold medallists and archer Sheetal Devi matching and then helping set world records.

The haul moved India to fourth on the medals table at the end of the day, behind China, Japan and Uzbekistan; China held an early lead while Japan had eight gold and Uzbekistan six gold, positions India can aim to challenge in the coming days. The contingent registered multiple one-two finishes across different disciplines, an outcome the report said raised expectations for further multi-medal results as the tournament continues.

In para-archery, Sheetal Devi first equalled the world record in the women's compound qualification round and later paired with Rakesh Kumar to establish a new world mark in the mixed team event, both developments reported as new world-level achievements for the Indian team.

Mona Agarwal staged a comeback in the women's 10m air rifle SH1 final, rising from sixth to win gold with an Asian Para Games record score of 250.0, edging defending champion Avani Lekhara who took silver on 249.6. Mona had topped qualification with 629.1 points to set an Asian Para Games qualification record, with Avani second on 626.4; the coverage also noted Mona had secured a quota at the WSPS World Championships in Changwon last month where she won silver and that her Nagoya result helped India obtain a second quota place for the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics.

Para-athletics produced three Indian golds: Nishad Kumar won the men's long jump with a best of 7.11m, Soumya took the women's 1,500m T12/T13 in a personal best of 5:12.39, and Rinku claimed gold in the men's F46 javelin with a 65.11m throw on his final attempt. Venkatesh Radha finished second in the women's 1,500m in 5:30.90, Ajeet Singh was runner-up to Rinku with 65.02m, and Ravanni Valasanaini was upgraded to bronze in the women's T11 after Rakshitha Raju was disqualified for a technical violation involving competition regulations on clothing, footwear and bibs.

India's judo competitors added two medals: Kokila took silver in the women's J2 -52kg category after losing the final to Kyrgyzstan's Aibike Ulanbek Kyzy, improving on a Hangzhou bronze, while Kapil Parmar earned bronze in the men's J1 -70kg after suffering a 0-1 semifinal defeat to Indonesia's Junaedi and then defeating Ahnaf Rafli Shidqi by the same margin in the bronze-medal match. In the pool and track, Ravi Karthik Budigina won silver in the men's 100m freestyle S13, touching in 56.68 seconds.

Table tennis provided further podium prospects as Bhavina Patel, Prachi Pandey and Sonalben advanced to semifinals in their respective women's singles classes. Prachi secured what the report described as India's first-ever Para Asian Games medal in women's Class 6 by beating Thailand's Kanokporn Phathumchai 11-5, 11-4, 11-13, 12-10 to reach the last four; Sonalben reached the semis in Class 3 with a 3-1 quarterfinal victory over Thailand's Dararat Asayut (11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 11-5), and Bhavina recovered from a game down to beat China's Zhang Miao 8-11, 11-6, 11-1, 11-6 in the Class 4-5 quarterfinal.

In para-badminton, Nitesh Kumar and Thulasimathi Murugesan advanced to the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 semifinals and secured at least bronze by topping Group B unbeaten; they received a walkover against China's Yang Jianyuan and Yang Qiuxia, then beat Chen Pengfei and Huang Zixuan 21-4, 21-18 in 23 minutes at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium. Nitesh also opened his men's singles SL3 campaign with a 21-13, 21-15 win over South Korea's Joo Dongjae, and Ruthick Ragupathi defeated Thailand's Somsiri Pricha 21-12, 21-12 in men's singles SU5 Group C.

India's medal rush on October 19 left the team fourth on the Asian Para Games standings at the close of play, with China leading the table; the report noted India could aim to move ahead of Japan (eight gold) and Uzbekistan (six gold) in the days ahead as the tournament progresses.