Shailesh Kumar clears 1.89m to spark Indian sweep in T63 high jump at Asian Para Games

Shailesh Kumar cleared 1.89m to set a new Asian Para Games record and led India to a clean sweep of the men's high jump T63 final at Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium on Thursday, October 22, at the 2026 Asian Para Games. Varun Bhati took silver and Rahul Saroha won bronze to complete the podium for India.

The event brought together athletes from the T42 and T63 classifications and featured a six-athlete field that became an all-Indian contest for the medals. Shailesh's 1.89m bettered the previous Games mark of 1.80m established by India's Sharad Kumar at the 2014 Incheon edition. Competition remained close in the early stages before the medal positions separated as the bar rose.

Shailesh stayed level with Varun Bhati until the bar reached 1.84m; he then cleared 1.87m and 1.89m to secure the gold and the Games record. Varun finished second and Rahul third, with both Bhati and Saroha recording season-best performances in Nagoya.

The Philippines' Edwin Enguito, Myanmar's Zaw Min Tun and Pakistan's Muhammad Nadeem completed the field in fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. The six-competitor format meant every jump had immediate bearing on final placings as the heights increased.

Shailesh's victory in the T63 high jump added to his previous continental and global successes, including gold at the 2022 Asian Para Games and the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships. At the World Championships in New Delhi last year he cleared a personal-best 1.91m to win the world title and set championship and Asian records in his classification.

Born in August 2000 in Islam Nagar village in Bihar's Jamui district, Shailesh contracted polio at age five, which left him with a permanent impairment in his right leg; he discovered his aptitude for jumping competing with able-bodied athletes at school. He holds a degree in mathematics and works as a Child Development Project Officer in the Bihar government.

A day earlier Shailesh had also won bronze in the men's long jump T42/T61/T63, clearing 5.57m to finish third and edging compatriot Mahendra Gurjar by 0.01m. Varun Bhati's international résumé includes a bronze at the Rio Paralympics in 2016 (1.77m), three world championship bronzes in 2017, 2023 and 2025, a silver at the 2018 Asian Para Games and the Arjuna Award; he contracted polio when young, leaving an impairment in his left leg.

Haryana's Rahul Saroha had placed fourth at the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi with a personal-best 1.78m, and his season-best jump in Nagoya secured him the Asian Para Games bronze. The trio's 1-2-3 finish was described in the event report as a result that showcased India's depth in para high jump.

The clean sweep in Nagoya was India's third podium clean sweep at the 2026 Asian Para Games, following earlier sweeps led by Devender Kumar in the men's discus throw F44/64 and Sachin Khilari in the men's shot put F46.