India Enjoy 24-Medal Haul With Five Golds as Nishad Kumar, Deepthi Jeevanji Sparkle at Asian Para Games

NEW DELHI: India produced a dominant showing on Day 2 of the Asian Para Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, bagging 24 medals, including five golds, with the athletics contingent leading the charge on Tuesday.

The massive haul lifted India to sixth position in the medal standings with 35 medals in total—nine gold, 11 silver, and 15 bronze. Track and field events contributed 20 medals to the overall tally.

Nishad Kumar became just the third Indian athlete to win two gold medals at a single edition of the Asian Para Games. After claiming the long jump title on Monday, the two-time Paralympic silver medallist won the men's high jump T47 event with a Games-record leap of 2.04m, joining Ankur Dhama and archer Sheetal Devi in achieving the twin-gold feat.

Deepthi Jeevanji opened the track gold rush by retaining her women's 400m T20 crown with a Games-record clocking of 56.36 seconds. Simran kept the momentum going in the women's 200m T12, striking gold with a Games record of 24.80 seconds despite contending with fatigue and food issues. Tejalben Damor collected bronze in the same race with a personal-best 25.23 seconds.

In field events, Pranav Soorma set an Asian record of 11.66m to take gold in the men's discus throw combined F51/52/53, while fellow countryman Ram Ratan Singh claimed silver with 10.35m. Devender Kumar wrapped up India's golden day in athletics by winning the men's discus throw F44/64.

Shooters added two medals to the tally. Manish Narwal took silver in the men's 10m air pistol SH1 with a score of 233.7, finishing behind South Korea's Jo Jeongdu while locking in an LA 2028 Paralympic quota place. Shrishti Arora picked up bronze in the women's 10m air pistol SH1.

In powerlifting, Haryana's Ashok Kumar Malik upgraded his previous bronze to a silver in the men's 65kg division with a 192kg lift. Swimmers contributed two bronzes through Himanshu Nandal (men's 400m freestyle S11, 5:10.91) and Niranjan Mukundan (men's 200m individual medley SM7, 2:57.01).

Para table tennis registered a historic outing as Ravi Baby Sahana and Prachi Pandey became the first Indians to earn medals in the standing category at the Games. With Bhavina Patel, Sonalben Patel, and Jehan Madan also reaching the podium, India finished with five bronze medals in the sport.

More medals were assured in archery and badminton. Sheetal Devi advanced to the women's compound final against Singapore's Alim Nur Syahidah, and debutant Swati Chaudhary reached the women's W1 final. Several Indian doubles pairings also made gold-medal matches. In badminton, Pramod Bhagat and Kumar Nitesh both advanced to the semifinals to guarantee podium finishes.