Indian para track and field athletes grabbed a whopping 22 medals, including five gold, in a stunning performance with sprinter Simran Sharma hogging the limelight on the third day of competitions at the Asian Para Games here on Wednesday.
Simran became the only fourth Indian to clinch two gold in the same edition of Para Asiad, winning the women's 100m T12 event to add to her 200m title on Tuesday.
Ankur Dhama (men's 5000m T11 and 1500m T11) and Sheetal Devi (women's individual compound open and mixed team compound open) had won two gold medals each in the previous edition in Hangzhou, China.
Nishad Kumar achieved the feat in the ongoing edition. He clinched the top spot in the men's high jump T47 event on Tuesday after his gold in the long jump T47 event on Monday.
On the second day of competitions on Tuesday, Indian para-athletics team had won 14 medals, including five gold, to take the tally to 20. With the addition of 22 medals on Wednesday, India's para-athletics medal tally swelled to 42 (13 gold, 14 silver, 15 bronze), the second-best after China (28 gold, 10 silver, 10 bronze).
The other gold winners on Wednesday were Dilip Gavit (men's 100m T47), Praveen Kumar (men's high jump T44/64), Ayush Verma (men's shot put F53) and Sachin Khilari (men's shot put F46).
India also pocketed eight silver medals through Banti (men's high jump T44/64), Bhagyashri Jadhav (women's shot put F34), Mohd Yasser (men's shot put F46), Manjeet (men's javelin F12/13), Preeti Pal (women's 100m T35), Mohammed Basil (men's 100m T47), Akira Banothu (men's 400m T35/38) and Sharath Makanahalli (men's 1500m T12/13).
Anubhav Choudhary (men's 100m T35), Parveen (men's shot put F46), Rakeshbhai Bhatt (men's 100m T37), Ravi Rongali (men's shot put F40), Sukhchain (men's javelin throw F55), Pranav Desai (men's 100 T64), Shailesh Kumar (men's long jump T42/61/63), Karamjyoti Dalal (women’s discus F55) and Haney (men's discus F37) won a bronze each.
Ayush gave India the first gold of the day in the men's javelin throw F53/F54 event. The 35-year-old from Meerut, who suffered a spinal cord injury in a road accident that confined him to a wheelchair, produced a throw of 8.16m in his fifth attempt to take the top spot.
F53 is for field athletes who have movement affected to a high degree in the trunk and legs. They compete in seated positions and generate inertia using their chest, upper-back and shoulders.
Double Paralympic medallist Praveen Kumar then added a second gold with a Games record performance in men's high jump T44/64 event.
The 23-year-old Praveen, who won gold at the 2024 Paralympics, sailed over 2.05m to defend the gold he had won in the previous Para Asiad, while Banti produced a personal best of 1.92m to take the silver.
"I was not well two weeks back; my body was not strong, and jumps were not coming. But in the end it turned out that all these illnesses are nothing if you have to win gold for the country," said Praveen.
T64 is for athletes who run with a prosthetic lower limb, while T44 is for athletes with lower-limb impairments who run using two anatomical limbs without prostheses.
Born with a lower-limb impairment -- one leg shorter than the other --, Praveen developed an interest in para athletics at a young age and went on to specialise in high jump under the guidance of Satyapal Singh.
Another Paralympics medallist, Sachin Khilari, defended the gold he won in the previous Asian Para Games, leading India to a medal sweep in men's shot put F46 event.
The 36-year-old Khilari, a silver winner at the 2024 Paralympics, won the gold with his final throw of 15.87m, breaking the earlier Games record of 15.67m.
Mohd. Yasser took the silver with 15.06m while Parveen was third with 14.94m.
The F46 classification is for field athletes with a single above- or below-elbow amputation, or an equivalent upper-limb impairment. They compete in a standing position and generate throwing power using their hips and legs.
Born to a farmer's family at Karagani village in Maharashtra's Sangli district, Khilari suffered a crippling injury on his left hand in a bicycle accident. Multiple surgeries failed to entirely repair his hand due to gangrene and muscle atrophy.
He got introduced to para sports in 2015 and improved his game under coach Satyanarayana. A mechanical engineer by qualification, he also teaches in institutions, assisting students in their preparations for civil services exams.
Meanwhile, Simran collected her second gold medal by winning the women's 100m T12 competition with a Games-record time of 12.02 seconds. She had also won the 200m gold with a new Games record on Tuesday.
T12 classification covers athletes with moderate visual impairment.
The 26-year-old Simran, who won a bronze in the 2024 Paris Paralympics, is on a comeback trail with her new guide Shivam after her previous guide Umar Saifi was banned for a doping violation. She had won silver medals in both her events in the previous edition of the Games.
Hailing from Burari village in Delhi, Simran was born prematurely with impaired vision, which makes it difficult for her to see beyond 10m. She was kept in an incubator for seven months after her premature birth.
India's last gold of the day came from 23-year-old Gavit who clocked 10.69 seconds to finish on top. Gavit had won the 400m gold at the previous Para Asiad in China, besides a 100m gold in the Glasgow Para Commonwealth Games earlier this year.
Hailing from a farming family at a village near Nashik in Maharashtra, Gavit injured his right arm after falling from a tree at the age of five. Timely medical treatment was not available and the injury developed into gangrene, leading to amputation of his arm below the elbow.
India has amassed 62 medals after the first three days of competition at the Asian Para Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, comprising 14 gold, 22 silver and 26 bronze medals. India ended Day 3 with 5 gold, 11 silver and 11 bronze medals.
