Asian Para Games 2023 Review: India return with record-breaking medal haul

Athletics dominated with most medals at Asian Para Games 2023

The Indian contingent enjoyed good success at the recently concluded Asian Para Games 2023 in Hangzhou, China. After sending the largest-ever contingent in the history of the Games, the athletes summed up the meet by delivering record-haul performance by breaching the 100-medal mark. The previous best performance was recorded in the 2018 edition and this time the aim was to reach the three-figure mark in the medals tally.

Several athletes put in record-breaking performances with four events registering podium sweeps. The nation participated in a total of 17 disciplines from which medals were won in 12. This was also the first time that India was taking part in 17 disciplines - their highest so far.

India's factsheet for Asian Para Games 2023

Full list of Indian medalists at Asian Para Games 2023

No	Name	Sport	Category	Medal
1	Ankur Dhama	Athletics	Men's 5000m-T11	Gold
2	Nishad Kumar	Athletics	Men's High Jump-T47	Gold
3	Ram Pal	Athletics	Men's High Jump-T47	Silver
4	Shailesh Kumar	Athletics	Men's High Jump-T63	Gold
5	Mariyappan Thangavelu	Athletics	Men's High Jump-T63	Silver
6	Monu Ghangas	Athletics	Men's Shot Put-F11	Bronze
7	Pranav Soorma	Athletics	Men's Club Throw-F51	Gold
8	Dharambir	Athletics	Men's Club Throw-F51	Silver
9	Amit Kumar	Athletics	Men's Club Throw-F51	Bronze
10	Prachi Yadav	Canoe	Women's VL2	Silver
11	Kapil Parmar	Judo	Men -60kg J1	Silver
12	Kokila	Judo	Women -48kg J2	Bronze
13	Avani Lekhara	Shooting	Women's 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1	Gold
14	Rudransh Khandelwal	Shooting	Mixed 50m Pistol SH1	Silver
15	Aruna	Taekwondo	Women's K44 -47kg	Bronze
16	Praveen Kumar	Athletics	Men's High Jump-T64	Gold
17	Unni Renu	Athletics	Men's High Jump-T64	Bronze
18	Ekta Bhyan	Athletics	Women's Club Throw-F32/51	Bronze
19	Simran	Athletics	Women's 100m-T12	Silver
20	Deepthi Jeevanji	Athletics	Women's 400m-T20	Gold
21	Ajay Kumar	Athletics	Men's 400m-T64	Silver
22	Manish Kaurav	Canoe	Men's KL3	Bronze
23	Prachi Yadav	Canoe	Women's KL2	Gold
24	Gajendra Singh	Canoe	Men's VL2	Bronze
25	Neeraj Yadav	Athletics	Men's Discus Throw-F54/55/56	Gold
26	Yogesh Kathuniya	Athletics	Men's Discus Throw-F54/55/56	Silver
27	Muthuraja	Athletics	Men's Discus Throw-F54/55/56	Bronze
28	Ravi Rongali	Athletics	Men's Shot Put-F40	Silver
29	Pramod	Athletics	Men's 1500m-T46	Silver
30	Rakesh Bhaira	Athletics	Men's 1500m-T46	Bronze
31	Ashok	Powerlifting	Men's -65kg	Bronze
32	Rudransh Khandelwal	Shooting	Men's 10m Air Pistol SH1	Silver
33	Manish Narwal	Shooting	Men's 10m Air Pistol SH1	Bronze
34	Rubina Francis	Shooting	Women's 10m Air Pistol SH1	Bronze
35	Team India	Archery	Men's Doubles Recurve - Open	Bronze
36	Team India	Archery	Women's Doubles Compound - Open	Silver
37	Team India	Archery	Men's Doubles Compound - Open	Silver
38	Pooja	Athletics	Women's Discus Throw-F54/55	Silver
39	Sumit	Athletics	Men's Javelin Throw Throw-F64	Gold
40	Pushpendra Singh	Athletics	Men's Javelin Throw Throw-F64	Bronze
41	Haney	Athletics	Men's Javelin Throw Throw-F37/38	Gold
42	Narayan Thakur	Athletics	Men's 200m-T35	Bronze
43	Shreyansh Trivedi	Athletics	Men's 200m-T37	Bronze
44	Soman Rana	Athletics	Men's Shot Put-F57	Silver
45	Hokato Sema Hotozhe	Athletics	Men's Shot Put-F57	Bronze
46	Sundar Singh Gurjar	Athletics	Men's Javelin Throw Throw-F46	Gold
47	Rinku	Athletics	Men's Javelin Throw Throw-F46	Silver
48	Ajeet Singh	Athletics	Men's Javelin Throw Throw-F46	Bronze
49	Ankur Dhaka	Athletics	Men's 1500m-T11	Gold
50	Rakshitha Raju	Athletics	Women's 1500m-T11	Gold
51	Lalitha Killaka	Athletics	Women's 1500m-T11	Silver
52	Sharath Makanahalli	Athletics	Men's 1500m-T13	Silver
53	Balwant Singh Rawat	Athletics	Men's 1500m-T13	Bronze
54	Nimisha Suresh	Athletics	Women's Long Jump-T47	Gold
55	Pramod Bhagat / Manisha Ramadass	Badminton	Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5	Bronze
56	Manasi Joshi	Badminton	Women's Singles SL3	Bronze
57	Sivarajan Solaimalai / Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan	Badminton	Mixed Doubles SH6	Bronze
58	Nitesh Kumar / Thulasimathi Murugesan	Badminton	Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5	Bronze
59	Mandeep Kaur	Badminton	Women's Singles SL3	Bronze
60	Vaishnavi Puneyani	Badminton	Women's Singles SL4	Bronze
61	Zainab Khatoon	Powerlifting	Women's -61kg	Silver
62	Kumari Raj	Powerlifting	Women's -61kg	Bronze
63	Bhavina Patel	Table Tennis	Women's Singles - Class 4	Bronze
64	Sandeep Dangi	Table Tennis	Men's Singles - Class 1	Bronze
65	Adil Mohamed Nazir Ansari / Naveen Dalal	Archery	Men’s Doubles – W1 Open	Bronze
66	Sheetal Devi / Rakesh Kumar	Archery	Mixed Team Compound - Open	Gold
67	Narayan Thakur	Athletics	Men's 100m-T35	Bronze
68	Sachin Sarjerao Khilari	Athletics	Men's Shot Put-F46	Gold
69	Rohit Kumar	Athletics	Men's Shot Put-F46	Bronze
70	Shreyansh Trivedi	Athletics	Men's 100m-T37	Bronze
71	Bhagyashri Jadhav Madhavrao	Athletics	Women's Shot Put-F34	Silver
72	Monu Ghangas	Athletics	Men's Discus Throw-F11	Silver
73	Simran	Athletics	Women's 200m-T12	Silver
74	Manisha Ramadass	Badminton	Women's Singles SU5	Bronze
75	Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan	Badminton	Women's Singles SH6	Bronze
76	Pramod Bhagat / Sukant Indukant Kadam	Badminton	Men's Doubles SL3-SL4	Bronze
77	Sukant Indukant Kadam	Badminton	Men's Singles SL4	Bronze
76	Krishna Nagar / Sivarajan Solaimalai	Badminton	Men's Doubles SH6	Bronze
79	Himanshi Bhaveshkumar Rathi	Chess	Women's Individual Standard VI-B1	Bronze
80	Mandeep Kaur / Manisha Ramadass	Badminton	Women's Doubles SL3-SU5	Bronze
81	Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan / Rachana Shaileshkumar Patel	Badminton	Women's Doubles SH6	Bronze
82	Sidhartha Babu	Shooting	R6 - Mixed 50m Rifle Prone SH1	Gold
83	Rakesh Kumar	Archery	Men's Individual Compound - Open	Silver
84	Sheetal Devi	Archery	Women's Individual Compound - Open	Gold
85	Raman Sharma	Athletics	Men's 1500m-T38	Gold
86	Solairaj Dharmaraj	Athletics	Men's Long Jump-T64	Gold
87	Manu	Athletics	Men's Shot Put-F37	Bronze
88	Pradeep Kumar	Athletics	Men's Javelin Throw-F54	Silver
89	Laxit	Athletics	Men's Javelin Throw-F54	Bronze
90	Lakshmi	Athletics	Women's Discus Throw-F37/38	Bronze
91	Pramod Bhagat	Badminton	Men's Singles SL3	Gold
92	Nitesh Kumar	Badminton	Men's Singles SL3	Silver
93	Yathiraj Suhas Lalinakere	Badminton	Men's Singles SL4	Gold
94	Krishna Nagar	Badminton	Men's Singles SH6	Silver
95	Nitesh Kumar/Tarun	Badminton	Men's Doubles SL3-SL4	Gold
96	Chirag Baretha/Raj Kumar	Badminton	Men's Doubles SU5	Silver
97	Thulasimathi Murugesan	Badminton	Women's Singles SU5	Gold
98	Thulasimathi Murugesan/Manasi Joshi	Badminton	Women's Doubles SL3-SU5	Silver
99	Suyash Narayan Jadhav	Swimming	Men's 50m Butterfly-S7	Bronze
100	Neeraj Yadav	Athletics	Men's Javelin Throw Throw-F55	Gold
101	Tek Chand	Athletics	Men's Javelin Throw Throw-F55	Bronze
102	Dilip Mahadu Gavit	Athletics	Men's 400m-T47	Gold
103	Pooja	Athletics	Women's 1500m-T20	Bronze
104	Satish Inani Darpan	Chess	Men's Individual Rapid VI-B1	Gold
105	Kumar Pradhan Soundarya	Chess	Men's Individual Rapid VI-B1	Silver
106	Ashwinbhai Kanchanbhai Makwana	Chess	Men's Individual Rapid VI-B1	Bronze
107	Kishan Gangolli	Chess	Men's Individual Rapid VI-B2/B3	Bronze
108	Satish Inani Darpan/Kumar Pradhan Soundarya/Ashwinbhai Kanchanbhai Makwana	Chess	Men's Team Rapid VI-B1	Gold
109	Aryan Joshi/Somendra/Kishan Gangolli	Chess	Men's Team Rapid VI-B2/B3	Bronze
110	Vruthi Saganlal Jain/ Himanshi Bhaveshkumar Rathi/ Sanskruti Vikas More	Chess	Women's Team Rapid VI-B1	Bronze
111	Anita/Konganapalle Narayana	Rowing	PR3 Mixed Double Sculls - PR3 Mix2x	Silver

List of firsts for India

• Ankur Dhama became the first-ever Indian to win two gold medals in a single edition of the Games.
• Sheetal Devi became the first Indian woman archer to win two gold medals in a single edition of the Asian Para Games.
• India breached the 100-medal mark for the first time in the Games' history.
• The Indian contingent recorded four clean sweeps in different events.
• This was India's maiden top-five finish in the history of the Games.
• For the first time, India competed in 17 different disciplines at the Asian Para Games.
• The nation fielded its largest-ever contingent (303) in its history at the Asian Para Games.

Top five performers

Sheetal Devi

Sheetal Devi won two gold and a silver medal in the fourth edition of Asian Para Games 2023. India's first-ever armless archer started her campaign with a silver medal in women's doubles compound and followed it up with two gold medals - in compound individual and partnering experienced Rakesh Kumar in mixed doubles. Prior to a successful campaign at Asiad, she had also clinched a gold medal at the Para Archery World Cup.

Sumit Antil

The multiple National Record holder created a new world record by spearing the javelin to 73.29m in the men's F-64 category. A few months back at the World Para Athletics Championship, Sumit Antil, breached the 70m mark to clinch gold and simultaneously qualify for Paris Paralympics.

Sundar Singh Gurjar

The javelin throw events continued to bring medals for India and this time it was Sundar Singh Gujar who registered a world record time in the men's F-46 category. After clinching silver and bronze medals in the previous edition, the 27-year-old went ahead to clinch gold. He won the bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

Pramod Bhagat

The five-time World Championships gold medalist, Pramod Bhagat, won three medals at the Asian Para Games 2023. He won two bronze medals in the doubles category and followed it up with a gold in the men's SL-3 individual category. This was his second appearance at the Asiad, having earlier won two medals in the precious edition in Jakarta.

Neeraj Yadav

The 39-year-old experienced athlete rose to the occasion and clinched two gold medals in men's discus and javelin throw events. He re-wrote his own Asian Record of 29.84m in the javelin throw created in the previous edition of the Para Asian Games 2023. Furthermore, Neeraj created a new Area and Games record by registering a throw of 38.56m in discus throw.

Top five sports that performed

Athletics

The athletics contingent won 55 out of the 111 medals won by India. The field events always stood apart with a javelin throw in particular winning more medals. On the other hand, the track events stood apart as players started winning medals in the sprints which wasn't the case earlier.

Badminton

The Badminton contingent registered 21 medals the most by any nation in the fourth edition of the quadrennial extravaganza. However, India finished third in the sport with the number of gold medals not on the higher side. The conversion rate from the semifinals to the final wasn't on the higher side, especially in doubles. China finished with a total of 20 medals.

Archery

After winning one medal in the previous edition, the Archery contingent took home seven medals - gold (2), silver (3), and bronze (2). Of all the archers, Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar stood apart winning three medals each. Sheetal and Rakesh combined to win gold in the mixed category with Sheetal going a step further to clinch gold in the women's individual section.

Shooting

A total of six medals were won by the shooting contingent. Rudransh Kandelwal, Manish Narwal, Avani Lekhara, and Siddhartha Babu were among the shooters to win medals in the competition. The latter won his first gold medal in mixed 50m Rifle. Rudransh with a silver medal triumph went on to reach the WR-1 in the 10m SH-prone event.

Chess

The chess contingent won eight medals with seven among them being won on the final day. The sport played a major role in taking India above the 110-medal mark. Inani was the standout athlete who won two gold medals in individual and team events respectively.

What next for the para-athletes?

With the Paris Paralympics lined up for next year, the athletes will go on a break and will come back to prepare vigorously for the world's grandest event. Several players from the athletics contingent qualified for the Paralympics by finishing inside the top 4 at the World Para Athletics Championship. A few renowned athletes including Sheetal Devi and Prachi Yadav secured their qualifying by finishing on the podium in their respective events.