Nishad Kumar's Second Gold Leads India's Five-Gold Day at Asian Para Games, Tally Hits 35

India's para-athletes had their best day so far at the Asian Para Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, on Tuesday. They won five gold medals at the Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium, and three of the winning marks were Games records. India's overall tally now stands at 35 medals (nine gold, 11 silver and 15 bronze), which keeps the country sixth in the standings.

All five golds came from para athletics. India won 14 track and field medals on the day, which took its athletics total to 20. Only China, with 23, has won more in the sport so far.

Nishad joins a short list

High jumper Nishad Kumar cleared 2.04 metres to win the men's T47 event with a new Games record. It was his second gold in two days, after he won the long jump on Monday. He is now the third Indian to win two golds at a single Asian Para Games. The other two, para-runner Ankur Dhama and archer Sheetal Devi, both did it at the 2023 edition in Hangzhou.

The T47 class covers athletes with an upper-limb impairment. Nishad, from Himachal Pradesh, lost his right hand in a farm accident as a child. A Paralympic medallist, he has been one of India's most consistent para-athletes for several years.

Three records on the track and in the circle

Deepthi Jeevanji opened India's run of golds by retaining her women's 400m T20 title. She ran 56.36 seconds, a Games record, and finished more than two seconds ahead of Japan's Niina Kanno. The Telangana runner is a former world champion and a Paris 2024 Paralympic bronze medallist. The T20 class is for athletes with an intellectual impairment.

Simran won the women's 200m T12 in a Games record of 24.80 seconds. Iran's Hajar Safarzadeh was 0.22 seconds behind in second, and debutant Tejalben Damor took bronze for India with a personal best of 25.23. Simran, who has a moderate visual impairment, races with a new guide this season. She said afterwards that her body felt tight and she had hoped to get closer to her own Asian record of 24.46.

In the men's discus F51/F52/F53, Pranav Soorma threw 11.66 metres for gold and a new Asian record, and Ram Ratan Singh took silver. The event combined several classes, so placings were decided by the Raza points system, which adjusts each throw for the severity of the athlete's impairment. That is why an athlete with a longer throw from a less-impaired class still finished behind the two Indians.

India also swept the podium in the men's discus F43/F44/F62/F64. Devender Kumar won with 49.71 metres, Rakesh took silver and Pardeep Kumar bronze.

Medals beyond athletics

• Shooting: Tokyo Paralympic champion Manish Narwal won silver in the men's 10m air pistol SH1 with 233.7 points, which also earned a Los Angeles 2028 quota place. Debutant Shrishti Arora took bronze in the women's event.
• Powerlifting: Ashok lifted 192kg for silver in the men's 65kg class, one step better than his bronze in 2022.
• Table tennis: Bhavina Patel, Sonalben Patel, Prachi Pandey, Baby Sahana Ravi and Jehan Madan each won singles bronze. Five medals beats India's previous best of two at the continental event. Sahana Ravi is the first Indian to win a medal in the women's standing category.
• Swimming: Himanshu Nandal (400m freestyle S11) and Niranjan Mukundan (200m individual medley SM7) each won bronze.

What comes next

More medals look likely. Sheetal Devi beat Japan's Aya Shinohara in her semi-final and is through to the women's compound individual final. She is also in the compound doubles final with Payal Nag. India has teams in both the men's and women's recurve doubles finals, and Swati Chaudhary reached the women's W1 final. In para badminton, Nitesh Kumar, Pramod Bhagat and Sanjana Kumari are all into the semi-finals.

The Games run until October 24. At the 2023 edition, India finished with a record 111 medals. That total is still a long way off, but India's strength in athletics gives it a solid base for the rest of the week.

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