Swati Chaudhary wins India’s first W1 archery medal, takes silver at Asian Para Games
Swati Chaudhary won India’s first-ever W1 archery medal at the Asian Para Games in Nagoya on October 22, 2026, settling for silver after a 4-6 defeat to China’s Cen Mengkan in the women's individual final.
The top-seeded Indian, coached by Athens Olympian Satyadev Prasad at Gurukul Archery Academy in Meerut, held a 4-2 lead in the set-point match before Cen mounted a comeback to win 6-4. The final took place in Nagoya on Thursday, October 22, 2026, and ended with Cen claiming gold and Chaudhary silver.
Match scoring across the five sets read 25-17, 21-22, 22-21, 20-30, 21-28, with the deciding set completed 28-21 in Cen’s favour. Chaudhary opened strongly, taking the first set 25-17 after Cen misfired on one arrow, and regained the lead in the third set to go 4-2 ahead in set points.
Cen, listed as world No. 23, reversed momentum in the fourth and fifth sets; she shot three perfect 10s to post 30 in the fourth set and dropped just two points in the final set to score 28, overturning Chaudhary’s advantage to secure her maiden Asian Para Games gold.
Chaudhary, a 37-year-old from Meerut, competes in the W1 category, a class for athletes with severe impairments affecting both upper and lower limbs. The classification includes athletes with conditions such as tetraplegia or comparable loss of muscle power and limb function.
Despite financial constraints that have limited her ability to attend some major international trials, Chaudhary has produced recent international results: she won a bronze medal at the World Archery Para Series in Ahmedabad last month and claimed three silver medals at the World Archery Para Series in Bangkok in 2026 in the women's W1 individual, women's W1 team and W1 mixed team events.
Domestically, she won gold in the women's W1 event at the 2025 Para Archery National Championships and at the Khelo India Para Games 2025. Her campaign is supported under the government's Annual Calendar for Training and Competition (ACTC), which provides financial assistance of ₹51,99,651 for training and competition.
The silver in Nagoya completes Chaudhary’s Asian Para Games 2026 campaign and represents India’s first podium finish in the W1 archery category at the Games.
