Indian athletes demonstrated outstanding results at the Asian Para Games on Friday, winning gold medals in badminton, athletics, and archery.
Nitesh Kumar and Navin Shivkumar won the badminton match, while Sandeep secured gold in the men's T64 400-meter race, setting a world record. Additionally, para-archers Harvinder Singh and Vijay Sundi brought India a gold medal in the men's pair recurve event.
Indian athlete Nitesh Kumar won the gold medal in the men's SL3 badminton final, defeating his compatriot Pramod Bhagat in two sets. In the match between the two players who had already won gold at the Paralympic Games, Nitesh won with a score of 21-18, 21-16.
This victory is particularly significant for Nitesh as he overcame the disappointment experienced at the previous Asian Para Games. He stated that he is very happy to win the gold medal at the Asian Games, noting that last time he was close to victory but lost in the third set, leading by a score of 19-16. Therefore, this victory and the win over Pramod in two sets are extremely important to him.
Navin Shivkumar continued India's success by winning the gold medal in the men's SL4 category. Thus, Indian athletes secured gold medals in both men's badminton classes.
In athletics, Sandeep set a world record by running the 400-meter distance for men's T64 in 52.28 seconds, winning the gold medal. He beat Noor Alsan from Saudi Arabia by 0.85 seconds, who took silver with a time of 53.13 seconds. Indian athlete Ajay Kumar won the bronze medal with a time of 53.61 seconds, which also became a games record in this discipline.
In this race, Sandeep and Alsan belong to the T44 category, while Ajay Kumar competes in the T64 category. Both categories represent disability groups related to lower limb conditions, and their competitions are held simultaneously.
In archery, para-archers Harvinder Singh and Vijay Sundi won the gold medal in the men's pair recurve event, defeating China with a score of 5-1. In the first set of the final, held at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park, the team score was tied at 35-35. However, the Indian pair managed to take the second set 37-36 and the third set 38-36, thus winning the title.
In the last two sets, the Indian pair demonstrated more accurate shooting, giving Chinese opponents Yun Duo and Zhao Lishuai no chance for a comeback.