Mona Agarwal, Nishad Kumar, Soumya and Rinku among the gold medallists
Nagoya: India made a flying start to the Asian Para Games, winning 11 medals, including four gold, on the opening day here on Monday, with shooter Mona Agarwal, long jumper Nishad Kumar and archer Sheetal Devi among the standout performers.
India also collected five silver and two bronze medals to occupy fourth place in the standings.
Mona staged a remarkable comeback to beat compatriot and defending champion Avani Lekhara in the women’s 10m air rifle SH1 final. Mona, a Paris Paralympics bronze medallist, shot an Asian Para Games record 250.0 points, edging Avani by 0.4 points.
Sheetal, the armless archer, equalled the world record in the women’s compound qualification round before partnering Rakesh Kumar to establish a new world mark in the mixed team event.
In para-athletics, two-time Paralympic silver medallist Nishad won the men’s long jump with a leap of 7.11m in his first international competition in the event. Soumya claimed the women’s 1500m T12/T13 gold in a personal-best 5:12.39 seconds, while Rinku won the men’s F46 javelin with a season’s best 65.11m. Ajeet Singh took silver with 65.02m.
India’s judokas added two medals, with Kokila winning silver in the women’s J2 52kg category and Kapil Parmar taking bronze in the men’s J1 70kg division. Ravi Karthik Budigina claimed silver in the men’s 100m freestyle S13 swimming event.
In table tennis, Bhavina Patel, Prachi Pandey and Sonalben entered their respective semifinals to assure India of three more medals.
Nitesh Kumar and Thulasimathi Murugesan also secured a mixed doubles badminton medal after topping Group B in the SL3-SU5 category unbeaten to reach the semifinals.
