Indian para-athletes Dilip Gavit and Solairaj Dharmaraj clinched gold medals in their respective events on Thursday, taking India’s overall medal tally at the Asian Para Games to 88, including 21 gold, 26 silver and 41 bronze medals.
Gavit secured his second gold of the competition by winning the men’s 400m T47 final in 48.27 seconds. Having earlier triumphed in the 100m T47 event, he successfully defended the 400m title he won at the 2023 edition in Hangzhou.
Solairaj added another gold to India’s tally by winning the men’s long jump T44/T62/T64 final with an effort of 7.15 metres, setting a new Asian Games record in the process. Malaysia’s Eddy Bernard took silver with a jump of 6.34 metres, while Japan’s Yuma Tamaki claimed bronze with 6.89 metres.
India also collected medals in para-swimming, with Ravi Karthik Budigina winning bronze in the men’s 50m freestyle S13 final in 25.89 seconds. Budigina, who had already secured two silver medals, narrowly missed another silver, finishing 0.38 seconds behind Indonesia’s Yavianda Maulana.
Tejas Nandkumar added another bronze in the men’s 100m backstroke S7, clocking 1:18.58. After being fourth at the halfway mark, he produced a strong finish to move past Uzbekistan’s Sardor Bakhtiyorov and secure a place on the podium.
In para-athletics, Ravanni Valasanaini won bronze in the women’s 400m T11 final. She moved into third position on the final bend and held on to the spot, finishing just 0.07 seconds ahead of China’s Huang Zhenli.
India’s medal haul also included a silver for para-swimmer Kapil Kumar and several podium finishes in athletics, including a sweep of the men’s high jump T63 medals.
