Nagoya: Armless archer Sheetal Devi picked up two gold medals in the space of less than two hours to reaffirm her peerless credentials, while the track-and-field contingent remained the single biggest contributor to India’s tally that swelled to 88 at the Asian Para Games here on Thursday.
Sheetal, the 19-year-old sensation who is the reigning world champion and also the world number one, first combined with Toman Kumar to defend the mixed team gold against Indonesia’s Teodora Audi Ayudia Ferelly and Ken Swagumilang 151-148.
She then overcame a four-point deficit to defeat Singapore’s Alim Nur Syahidah 142-139 in a repeat of the Hangzhou 2023 individual final.
The day started perfectly for India with Suvarna Raj taking the gold medal in women’s F54 discus throw with a best effort of 15.66m. The wheelchair-bound 44-year-old delivered a consistent performance, recording four throws beyond the 15-metre to secure the biggest win of her career.
It got progressively better for the country, which now has 88 medals in its kitty, including 21 gold, 26 silver and 41 bronze as medals also came in from para-swimming, para-badminton and para-table tennis.
The biggest contributor remained para-athletics with 52 medals (18 gold, 16 silver and 18 bronze).
Among the standout performances of the day was a Shailesh Kumar-led sweep of the men’s high jump T63 event, and gold medals from sprinters Anjanaben Bumbadiya and Dilip Mahadu Gavit in their respective 400m T47 competitions.
Bumbadiya clinched the women’s gold with a timing of 59.97sec and was followed by compatriot Jayanti Behera (1:00.65sec) in the second place.
In the men’s high jump T63 competition, Shailesh, who won a long jump bronze on Wednesday, led India’s domination with a Games record effort of 1.89m.
Former Paralympic bronze-winner Varun Bhati secured the silver with a season’s best of 1.84m, while Rahul ended with the bronze after a jump of 1.81m.
Later, Gavit, who claimed the top spot in the 100m event on Wednesday, won the men’s 400m T47 race by clocking 48.27sec.
The day closed with long jumper Dharmaraj Solairaj successfully defending his Games crown with an Asian record effort of 7.15m in the T44/T62/T64 combined event.
In the women’s 400m T12 event, visually impaired Tejalben Damor won her second medal of the Games by finishing with a silver after clocking 57.60sec. She had earlier won a bronze in the 200m T12 competition.
The T47 category covers athletes with a below-elbow amputation, wrist amputation, or similar upper-limb deficiency/impairment affecting one arm.
T63 classification is for athletes who have a through-knee or above-knee amputation or limb deficiency.
Also in archery, Swati Chaudhary scripted history by winning India’s first ever Asian Para Games medal in the W1 category, settling for silver after losing 4-6 to China’s Cen Mengkan in the women’s individual final.
Budigina shines in pool
Teenage para swimmer Ravi Budigina completed a hat-trick of medals with a bronze in the men’s 50m freestyle S13 event as three other Indians also finished on the podium.
Kapil Kumar clinched silver, while Swatik Patil and Tejas Nandakumar bagged bronze medals in their respective events to take India’s medal haul to 10 in the swimming events. But a gold remained elusive.
Ravi had won silver medals in the men’s S13 100m backstroke and freestyle events earlier this week. The visually impaired 18-year-old from Andhra Pradesh clocked 25.89 seconds to finish third in the 50m freestyle.
The 26-year-old Kapil clocked 4:38.44 to finish second behind Japan’s Akito Minai, who set a Games record en route to gold in the men’s 400m freestyle S10 event with a time of 4:27.44.
Twenty-four-year-old Swatik clocked one minute and 13.77 seconds in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB9 to clinch another medal for India.
The SB9 classification is for swimmers with minimal physical impairments, while S13 is for athletes with visual impairments who have the least vision loss among eligible competitors.
The last Indian swimmer to take to the pool, Tejas clocked 1:18.58 to finish third in the men’s 100m backstroke S7 event, which is for athletes with physical impairments who have full control of their arms and trunk, limited leg function, or specific limb deficiencies.
Medal rush in badminton
India were assured of a top-two finish in men’s singles SL3 badminton event after Pramod Bhagat produced a valiant effort to see off Korea’s Lee Seunghu in a marathon three-game semifinal, setting up a summit clash with compatriot Nitesh Kumar.
The 38-year-old, a six-time world champion and Tokyo Paralympic gold medallist, survived a marathon 2-hour-and-9-minute battle to beat Lee 16-21, 21-18, 21-17.
Earlier, Paris Paralympic champion Nitesh Kumar put himself in contention for two gold medals after reaching the finals of men’s singles SL3 and mixed doubles SL3-SU5, while Naveen Sivakumar advanced to the men’s singles SL4 final on a good day for Indian para-shuttlers.
Nitesh stormed into the summit clash, defeating Indonesia’s M Imran 21-19, 21-16 in 52 minutes.
Earlier, he combined with Thulasimathi Murugesan to outwit the Chinese pair of Li Mingpin and Xiao Zuxian 21-19, 14-21, 21-17 in a thrilling semifinal that lasted 42 minutes at Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium.
The Indians also picked up five bronze medals in different events.
Bhavina’s bronze in TT
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India’s Bhavina Patel and Subham Wadhwa signed off with a bronze medal in the mixed doubles XD7 table tennis competition after losing to South Korea’s Jang Yeongjin and Lee Migyu in the semifinals.
The Indian pair went down 6-11, 11-8, 5-11, 8-11 in the last-four clash after being assured of a medal with a straight-game win over Japan’s Kimie Bessho and Masanori Uno in the quarterfinals.
Bhavina and Subham had defeated the Japanese pair 11-9, 11-3, 11-6 to enter the semifinals.
