Asian Para Games: India reach 88 medals, 21 of them gold, and sit fourth

Aichi-Nagoya, 23 October. India’s campaign at the 5th Asian Para Games has passed the 80-medal mark. At the close of competition on 22 October the count stood at 88 medals: 21 gold, 26 silver and 41 bronze. That was good enough for fourth place, behind China, Japan and Uzbekistan. The Games run from 18 to 24 October, so the figure will keep moving; this is the last total we can confirm.

A 26-medal day

The 22 October programme alone brought India 26 medals: 7 gold, 4 silver and 15 bronze. Head coach Satyanarayan said the team hopes to go past 100 medals before the closing ceremony.

Who won what

Athletics supplied most of the gold on the day.

• Dharmaraj Solairaj retained the men’s long jump (T44/T62/T64) title with 7.15 m, an Asian record that improved on his earlier 7.08 m.
• Shailesh Kumar won the men’s high jump T63 with 1.89 m, a Games record. Varun Singh Bhati took silver at 1.84 m and Rahul bronze at 1.81 m, a clean podium sweep.
• Suvarna Raj won the women’s F54 discus with a throw of 15.66 m.
• Anjanaben Bumbadiya won the women’s 400 m T47 in 59.97 seconds, with Jayanti Behera second in 1:00.65.
• Dilip Mahadu Gavit took the men’s 400 m T47 in 48.27 seconds.
• Tejalben Damor won silver in the women’s 400 m T12 in 57.60 seconds.

In archery, Sheetal Devi and Toman Kumar beat Indonesia 151-148 for compound mixed team gold. Swati Chaudhary won silver in the women’s W1 individual event, India’s first medal in that category at the Games. She lost the final 4-6 to China’s Cen Mengkan.

In the pool, Kapil Kumar took silver in the men’s 400 m freestyle S10 (4:38.44), while Swatik Patil and Tejas Nandkumar picked up bronze in the 100 m breaststroke SB9 and 100 m backstroke S7. Para badminton added several bronzes, among them Sanjana Kumari in the women’s SL3 singles and the pairing of Manisha Ramadass and Pramod Bhagat in mixed doubles.

Official reaction

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Droupadi Murmu both congratulated the para athletes on their performances on 22 October.

What to watch

With two days of competition left, several finals, including badminton medal matches, were still to be played when the 22 October count was taken. The medal table can change by the hour, so check the official results page of the Games for the live number.