Hangzhou, China, October 23: Nishad Kumar of India secured a gold medal and established a new Asian Games record in the Men’s High Jump T47 event at the ongoing 4th Asian Para Games 2022 in Hangzhou. Nishad outperformed his competitors by leaping to a height of 2.02m, earning the gold. China’s Hongjie Chen settled for the silver medal with a jump of 1.94m, while India’s Ram Pal also claimed silver, matching the same height of 1.94m in his fifth attempt.
In another remarkable performance, Indian para-athlete Monu Ghangas clinched a bronze medal in the Men’s Shot Put-F-11 Final with a season-best throw of 12.33m in his fourth attempt. Iran’s Amirhossein claimed the gold medal with a season-best throw of 13.92m, closely followed by his compatriot Mahdi Olad, who secured silver with a throw of 13.30m. Balaji Rajendran, despite producing his personal best throw of 11.56m, fell short of a podium finish.
Earlier in the Para Asian Games, India’s dominance in athletics was evident when Shailesh Kumar, Mariyappan Thangavelu, and Ram Singh Padhiyar secured gold, silver, and bronze medals, respectively, in the Men’s High Jump-T63 event. Shailesh reached a height of 1.82m to claim the gold, edging out Mariyappan, the Asian record holder in Men’s High Jump-T42, who secured silver with his season-best jump of 1.80m. Ram Singh finished third with a jump of 1.78m.
Prachi Yadav added to India’s medal tally by clinching a silver medal in canoeing in the women’s VL2 Final. Prachi delivered a competitive performance, narrowly missing the gold, with a timing of 1:03.47s. The gold went to Uzbekistan’s Irodakhon Rustamova with a timing of 1:02.125s, while Japan’s Saki Komatsu secured the bronze with a timing of 1:11.635s.
India aims to surpass its previous best performance of 72 medals at the 2018 event in Indonesia, which included 15 gold, 24 silver, and 33 bronze medals. The inspiring performance of the Indian contingent at the recent Asian Games, where they won 107 medals, has fueled optimism that the 4th Asian Para Games will set new records and become the most successful in the history of Para Games in the country.
