Asian Para Games: Sports-wise performance of India

The fourth edition of the Asian Para Games is super close, scheduled between 22-28th October just after the successful completion of the Asian Games and there is plenty of build-up around a century of medals in this para-Asian Games just like the Asian Games.

In the last edition of the Para Asian Games happened in 2018, India won 72 medals with the 190-member squad that competed in 13 varieties of sports, there were 15 golds, 24 silvers, and 33 bronzes, and out of the total medals, women won 20.

India’s performance in these games has developed drastically in terms of medals and participation rate across sports and the number of athletes competing in the events, The medal tally of the country has significantly shown improvement from 14 medals in 2010 to 33 in 2014, and finally to 72 in the last games.

In the first edition of the games in 2010 and 2014, the Indian contingent competed in 9 events whereas this number rose to 13 events in 2018 games.

Para Athletics

In the three past editions, athletes won 60 medals in para-athletics, out of which 10 medals were golds. The first gold medal in athletics was won by Jagseer Singh in 2010 in athletics men’s triple jump f46. The 26 medals are silvers and the remaining are bronzes. In 2018, 36 medals were clinched by the athletics contingent, and 17 medals in 2014.

Para Badminton

A total of 15 medals were scored in the last two editions of the games, out of which 9 were won in 2018 and 6 in 2014, the noteworthy performance of Parul Parmar was noted in 2010 badminton in BMSTL3 event in first ever appearance of badminton in para Asian games.

Para Powerlifting

In the powerlifting event, in the 2018 edition, the contingent won 4 medals, 2 silver, and 2 bronze, and in the 2014 and 2010 editions, a bronze medal was clinched in both editions. Farman Basha won a medal in the -48kg event in the 2010 edition.

Para Swimming

In para-swimming, in 2014 and 2018 editions 15 medals were won by swimmers. In the last edition, a gold, 2 silvers, and 5 bronzes were won. In the 2014 edition, a silver and 6 bronze medals were clinched by the swimmers. Sharath Gayakwad was the star performer in the 2014 games as he won the majority of the medals from the country in this event. In the 2018 games, Suyash Jadhav won three medals, a gold, and two bronze medals.

Some of the events in which Indians participated in some editions only and gave notable performances are Chess, Para shooting, and Judo

In the 2018 edition, 9 medals were scored in Chess and 3 in Parashooting a medal each in Archery, Table Tennis, and Cycling. In the 2014 edition, 2 bronze medals were bagged in Judo.

Nooruddin Shaik Dawood became the first and only fencer to win a medal, he won a bronze in Individual Sabre Category B in the 2010 Asian Para Games.