Asian Para Games 2023: India bags 80 medals to overhaul best record, beats previous tally in Jakarta

The Indian contingent on Thursday, October 26, entered the record books by taking its medal tally to 80 in the ongoing Asian Para Games 2023 in Hangzhou, China. India went past the 72-medal tally recorded in the previous edition in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2018.

Only on the fourth day of the quadrennial event, India has accounted for 18 gold, 23 silver, and 39 bronze medals, with the tally likely to extend with the event concluding on October 28, which means more action to fold up.

The Para athletes can follow in the footsteps of the Asian Games, where the country witnessed an unprecedented 100-plus medal count (107 in total).

Indian para-athlete Sachin Sarjerao Khilari won the first gold medal of the day in the men’s F46 shot put. The 33-year-old threw as far as 16.03m to not only achieve the Games record throw but also take India’s best gold medal tally to 16. Rohit Kumar picked up the bronze medal with a throw of 14.56m.

Siddhartha Babu set a new Asian Para Games record with a remarkable score of 247.7 en route to clinching a gold medal in the R6 mixed 50m rifle prone SH1 event. The Kerala-born athlete secured a berth in the 2024 Paris Paralympics through his success in Hangzhou.

Compound archers Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar bagged India’s 18th gold medal in the compound mixed team archery event.

The Indian pair defeated local favorites China in a nail-biting contest to win 151-149. Both Sheetal and Rakesh have won two medals each in these Para Games.

Adil Mohamed Nazir Ansari and Naveen Dalal won against Kazakhstan 125-120 in the men’s doubles W1 bronze medal game.

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Para shuttlers lose semifinals but contribute to medal tally

Manisha Ramdass (women’s singles SU5), Sivan Nithya Sumanthy (women’s singles SH6), Mandeep Kaur/Manidha Ramdass (women’s doubles SL3-SL4), and Sukant Indukant Kadam (men’s singles SL4) lost their semifinal rounds and hence secured six bronze medals for India on Day 4.

Krishan Nagar/Sivarajan Solaimalai (men’s doubles SH6) and Pramod Bhagat/Sukant Indukant Kadam (men’s doubles SL3-SL4) also lost their semifinal rounds and hence secured six bronze medals for India on Day 4.

In fact, Sivan Nithya Sumanthy’s bronze medal was the 73rd medal for the country to create a new record haul in the Para Asian Games.

Meanwhile, Bhagyashree Madhavrao Jadhav and Simran won a silver medal each in the women’s F34 and women’s T12 100-meter shot put, respectively.

Para athletes Narayan Thakur and Shreyansh Trivedi won bronze medals in the men’s T35 100m and the men’s T37 100m. Narayan clocked a time of 14.37 seconds, while Shreyansh took 12.27 seconds to finish his race. Bhaveshkumar Rathi Himanshi won a bronze medal in chess in the women’s individual standard V1-B1 event.