Asian Para Games 2026: India Reaches 21 Golds on Thursday

India climbed to fourth place in the Asian Para Games 2026 medal tally on Thursday after collecting medals across para athletics, para swimming, para badminton, para archery and para table tennis. The Indian contingent ended the day with 88 medals, including 21 gold, 26 silver and 41 bronze.

Sheetal Devi won two gold medals during the day, while Dilip Mahadu Gavit and Shailesh Kumar added major para athletics titles. India crossed the 80-medal mark ahead of the penultimate day of the Games, pushing past that total through a busy programme in Aichi-Nagoya.

Gold medals and records drive India’s Thursday

Dilip Mahadu Gavit won the men’s 400m T47 gold medal in 48.27 seconds, securing his second gold of the Games after previously winning the 100m title in his category. Bhavikkumar Bharwad initially finished second, with the live update reporting a time of 49.31 seconds, but he was later disqualified for a lane infringement and the silver medal was withdrawn.

Shailesh Kumar also secured his second medal in Japan, winning the men’s high jump title with a new Games record of 1.89m. His gold followed a bronze medal in the long jump. India completed a podium sweep in the event as Varun Bhati cleared 1.84m for silver and Rahul Saroha produced 1.81m for bronze.

Solairaj delivered another athletics gold with a new Asian record of 7.15m in the combined T44/64 long jump final. The defending champion began with a 6.88m effort before going beyond seven metres on his second attempt, setting a lifetime best and confirming the title. The result was India’s 20th gold medal in Aichi-Nagoya.

India’s athletics medals were complemented by more podium finishes in the pool. Ravi Karthik Budigina claimed bronze in the men’s 50m freestyle S13 in 25.89 seconds, his third medal of the Games. Uzbekistan’s Egor Bolotov won gold in 24.39 seconds.

Tejas took his first medal of the Games by clocking 1:18.58, while China’s Ruan Jingsong won gold in a Games record time of 1:12.16. The medal was India’s 10th in swimming at the Games. Swatik Patil added another swimming bronze, finishing in 1:13.77 behind two Iranian swimmers for his first medal of the competition.

India also had a second bronze medal in swimming for an athlete guided by Tabres Khan, who recorded a personal best of 1:03.64 in the final. China’s He Shanshan took gold in 1:00.07. The bronze followed an earlier 1500m bronze medal in Japan.

Badminton bronze adds to India’s medal total

Naveen Sivakumar and Suryakant Yadav earned bronze in para badminton after a three-game semifinal defeat to Indonesia’s Suryo Nugroho and Muh Al Imran. The Indian pair lost the opening game 8-21, responded by taking the second 21-19, and then fell 16-21 in the decider.

The day’s results underlined India’s breadth across disciplines, with medal contributions arriving from track and field, swimming and badminton alongside the reported successes in para archery and para table tennis. With 21 gold medals among 88 overall, India entered the penultimate day in fourth position in the standings.