Asian Para Games 2026: India continued to flex its talent pool at the Asian Para Games 2026 in Nagoya, Japan on October 19, Monday. Sprinter Soumya clinched the gold medal, while compatriot Radha Venkatesh bagged silver in the women’s 1500m T12/T13 final.
Asian Para Games 2026: Soumya sizzles on Asian Para Games debut
Making her debut at the continental event, Soumya clocked a personal best of 5:12.39 seconds to win the title in the combined T12 and T13 category, earning 621 points. Radha finished second with a timing of 5:30.90 seconds, accumulating 421 points to claim the silver medal.
The result was particularly significant for Radha, who had finished first in the same event at the 2022 Asian Para Games with a timing of 5:19.35. However, the event was held as a non-medal competition on that occasion due to the limited number of participants. India also had two competitors in the men’s 59kg para powerlifting final, where Manish Kumar narrowly missed out on a medal after finishing fourth. Manish recorded a best lift of 181kg, matching the weight lifted by bronze medallist Stanislav Shakiyev of Kazakhstan. However, Manish lost out on the bronze medal on countback, as Shakiyev had lifted the weight earlier.
The other Indian in the event, Paramjeet Kumar, finished seventh with a best lift of 167kg. With Soumya’s gold and Radha’s silver, India continued its strong showing at the Games, taking its medal tally to 11, including four gold, five silver and two bronze medals, to stand fourth in the standings, at the time of writing. Earlier in the day, para shooters Mona Agarwal and Avani Lekhara also secured podium finish with gold and silver medals, respectively.
The Men’s Javelin throw F46 category also saw two athletes take medals, with Ajeet Singh bagging silver and Rinku Hooda clinching gold. India’s two-time Paralympic silver medallist Nishad Kumar also went one step ahead and earned gold in the men’s T47 long jump event.