Hangzhou [China]: India’s Nishad Kumar bagged a gold while setting a new Asian Games record in the Men’s High Jump T47 in the ongoing 4th Asian Para Games 2023 at Hangzhou on Monday.
Nishad jumped higher than the rest of his competitors and took the gold medal with a leap of 2.02m. China’s Hongjie Chen settled for silver with an attempt of 1.94m. India’s Ram Pal also claimed silver as he also registered 1.94m in his fifth attempt.
Meanwhile, Indian para-athlete Monu Ghangas secured a bronze medal finish in the Men’s Shot Put-F-11 Final. Monu secured a podium finish with his season-best throw of 12.33m which came in his fourth attempt. Iran’s Amirhossein claimed the gold medal with his season-best throw of 13.92m. While his national compatriot Mahdi Olad finished marginally behind him with a throw of 13.30m.
Balaji Rajendran who was also in the mix fell short of a podium finish ever after producing his personal best throw of 11.56m.
Earlier, India’s dominance in athletics at the ongoing Para Asian Games was showcased by Shailesh Kumar, Mariyappan Thangavelu and Ram Singh Padhiyar who clinched gold, silver and bronze medals respectively in the Men’s High Jump-T63 event on Monday.
Shailesh touched 1.82m to claim the gold medal by besting his national compatriot and Asian record holder in Men’s High Jump-T42 Mariyappan by 0.2m.
He settled for silver with his season-best attempt of 1.80m, while, Ram Singh finished at the third spot with an attempt of 1.78m.
Prachi Yadav clinched a silver medal in canoeing in the women’s VL2 Final and opened India’s account. Prachi gave Uzbekistan’s Irodakhon Rustamova a run for her money as both athletes were separated by a timing of 1.022s. Prachi secured a silver medal finish by clocking 1:03.47s while Irodakhon claimed the gold medal with a timing of 1:02.125s.
Japan’s Saki Komatsu walked away with a bronze medal with a timing of 1:11.635s.
India will be hoping to surpass their best performance of 72 medals at the 2018 event in Indonesia, consisting of 15 gold, 24 silver and 33 bronze medals.
The historic performance by the Indian contingent of winning 107 medals at the just concluded Asian Games has fuelled the athletes, coaches and support staff with a belief that the 4th Asian Para Games will break many records and will be the most successful one in history of Para Games in the country.
