India’s Sonalben Patel secured an assured medal at the 2026 Asian Para Games after advancing to the women’s singles Class 3 para-table tennis semifinals with a 3-1 victory over Thailand’s Dararat Asayut on Monday.
Sonalben won the quarterfinal 11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 11-5 to move within one win of the final. She will face South Korea’s top seed Jiyu Yoon in the semifinals on Tuesday.
Jaspreet Kaur misses para-powerlifting podium
India narrowly missed another podium finish in para-powerlifting, with Jaspreet Kaur placing fourth in the women’s 45kg final after registering a best lift of 100kg.
The reigning Asian medallist opened strongly, successfully lifting 100kg to sit third after the first round.
However, she could not clear 102kg in her second attempt. Kazakhstan’s Berimkulova moved ahead with a successful 101kg lift in her third attempt, while Jaspreet failed to improve her own mark in her final effort. The fourth-place finish marked her second consecutive outing without a medal at the Asian Para Games.
Indian swimmers finish outside the medals
In para-swimming, Vaishnavi Vinod Jagtap finished sixth in the women’s 400m freestyle S8 final, clocking 6:22.72. China’s Tingting Zheng took gold in 5:15.40.
India also missed out on medals in the men’s 400m freestyle S7 final, where Niranjan Mukundan finished fourth in 5:38.77 and Gopichand Lingutla came fifth in 5:40.44. Six swimmers competed in the final.
Mixed results for India in boccia
India’s boccia campaign produced mixed results on Monday. Anjali Devi suffered an 8-0 defeat against South Korea’s Ye Jin Choi in her second women’s individual BC3 pool match, having begun with a convincing 9-0 win over Japan’s Yuika Sakai. She will return to action against Singapore’s Mohammad Nurulasyiqah on Tuesday.
Sachin Chamaria, meanwhile, was eliminated from the men’s individual BC3 competition after losing both his matches on Monday. He went down 1-5 to Japan’s Kazuki Takahashi before suffering a 1-7 defeat against South Korea’s Howon Jeong. With two losses in three pool matches, he bowed out of the event.
India opens medal account with three medals
India had earlier opened its medal tally at the Aichi-Nagoya Games with three medals. Mona Agarwal claimed gold and Avani Lekhara took silver in the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 event, while para-judoka Kapil Parmar secured bronze in the men’s J1-70kg category.
Parmar defeated Indonesia’s Shidqi Rafli Ahnaf by ippon in just 69 seconds in the bronze-medal contest, earning India its first para-judo medal at the ongoing Games.
India’s athletes will continue their campaigns across disciplines as the country looks to build on its early medal haul at the continental event.