India’s best-ever campaign at the 4th edition Asian Para Games ended with a total of 111 medals on Saturday, marking an end to a historic few weeks in Hangzhou. Earlier at the 19th Asian Games, India had finished with a total of 107 medals, also the country’s best-ever tally.
India’s final count at the Para Asiad was 29 gold, 31 silver, 51 bronze and they finished fifth behind China, Iran, Japan and Korea. India had won 14 medals at the 2010 edition, 33 in 2014 and 72 in 2018. In Guangzhou at the inaugural edition, India had won 1 gold while that number went up to 15 in Indonesia. In Jakarta, India finished 9th overall in the medals tally.
Over the six days of medal events, India’s track & field contingent accounted for 55 out of the 111 medals. The next best contribution came from para badminton with 21 medals, that included four gold medals. Chess saw Indians win 8 medals, archery contributed 7 medals, while 6 came from shooting.
Hangzhou: India’s Sheetal Devi competes in the women’s individual compound archery event at the 4th Asian Para Games, in Hangzhou, China. (PTI Photo)
One of the stars of the Games was Sheetal Devi, the armless archer from Jammu & Kashmir, who won three medals and two of those were gold. After her silver in women’s doubles compound, Sheetal added two gold medals from the mixed doubles and women’s individual too. She was born with Phocomelia, a rare congenital disorder that causes under-developed limbs. “Initially, I could not even lift the bow properly. But, after practising for a couple of months, it became easier,” Sheetal told The Indian Express.
Another standout performer was Sumit Antil, the Tokyo Paralympics javelin gold medallist, who threw 73.29m to win gold in Men’s Javelin Throw Throw-F64. It is now the farthest anyone has ever thrown the javelin in para athletics, across all the categories.
“Actually, there wasn’t too much pressure for winning the gold but there was quite a lot of pressure for the World Record because wherever I compete now that’s what everyone expects,” he told The Indian Express.
Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar won three medals each in archery. Neeraj Yadav, Ankur Dhama (in para athletics) and Darpan Inani (in chess) won two gold medals. A total of 26 Indians featured in the list of multi medallists from the event.
According to SAI, Indian athletes created 6 World Records, 13 Asian Records and 15 Asian Para Games Records during the event.
The last day of action belong to the chess contingent led by Darpan Inani who won the individual and team gold. A total of 7 medals came from the board event. Dilip Mahadu Gavit and Neeraj Yadav won gold in their para athletics events,
On the final day, another slice of history was made as India won their first Para Asiad medal in rowing, thanks to a bronze for Anita & Konganapalle Narayana in PR3 Mixed Double Sculls – PR3 Mix2x. Para Taekwondo and Para Canoeing also saw India clinch their first medals.
Indian athletes had a podium clean sweep in Club Throw F51, Javelin Throw F46, Rapid Chess & Discus Throw F54/55/56 event. There were 2 medals in one event across 19 categories (10 in Athletics, 7 in Badminton, 1 each in Powerlifting and Shooting).
Earlier in the event, Avani Lekhara – another Tokyo Paralympics gold medallist – shone with a gold in her pet event, Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1. The first medal at the Games for India was a silver won by Prachi Yadav, who would go on to win a gold as well later. In para badminton, the familiar names delivered as Pramod Bhagat, Suhas Yathiraj, Thulasimathi Murugesan, and Nitesh Kumar & Tarun won the gold medals.
Hangzhou: Para medallists with officials pose for group photos at the 4th Asian Para Games, in Hangzhou. (PTI Photo) 
Hangzhou: India’s Sheetal Devi competes in the women’s individual compound archery event at the 4th Asian Para Games, in Hangzhou, China. (PTI Photo)
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