Blog Banner
5 min read

India Smash Asian Para Games Record With 114 Medals, 30 Golds, With a Far Smaller Squad

Calender Oct 23, 2026
5 min read

India Smash Asian Para Games Record With 114 Medals, 30 Golds, With a Far Smaller Squad

India scripted history in Nagoya, surpassing its previous best of 111 medals from the 2022 edition in Hangzhou. The haul came with barely half the athletes.

India has a new all-time best at the Asian Para Games. The country’s athletes in Nagoya collected 114 medals, including 30 gold, edging past the 111 won in Hangzhou, the previous record.

What makes it more striking is who did it. India sent 303 athletes to Hangzhou, its largest-ever contingent. For Nagoya, it cut the team to 168 athletes, and the build-up was marred by selection controversies. A smaller squad has beaten the biggest one.

The record in context

The Hangzhou edition, held in October 2023 after being postponed from 2022, was where India first crossed the 100-medal mark. India won 111 medals there, 29 gold, 31 silver and 51 bronze, and finished fifth. The previous best before that was 72 medals in Jakarta in 2018. So India’s tally has gone from 72 to 111 to 114 over three editions.

Edition Host 🥇 Gold 🥈 Silver 🥉 Bronze Total Squad size
2018 Jakarta 15 24 33 72 n/a
2022 (held 2023) Hangzhou 29 31 51 111 303
2026 Aichi-Nagoya 30 35 49 114 168

The Nagoya Games feature 489 medal events across 19 disciplines, held from October 18 to 24.

Where the medals came from

Para athletics again carried India’s campaign, and badminton was a strong second. The table below shows the latest sport-by-sport count I could verify, taken at 104 medals.

Rank Sport 🥇 Gold 🥈 Silver 🥉 Bronze Total
1 Para athletics 20 18 19 57
2 Para badminton 2 5 8 15
3 Para swimming 0 3 7 10
4 Para table tennis 0 0 7 7
5 Para archery 3 3 0 6
6 Para shooting 2 2 1 5
7 (tie) Para judo 0 1 1 2
7 (tie) Para powerlifting 0 2 0 2
  Total (104-medal count) 27 34 43 104
  Final tally 30 35 49 114

Sports are ranked by total medals. The final row shows the reported final figures; the per-sport split for the last ten medals was not available at the time of writing.

Athletics alone delivered 57 of the 104 medals counted, a little over half, and 20 of the 27 golds. Badminton’s strength lay in silvers and bronzes, 13 of its 15 medals. Archery and shooting turned a small number of medals into five golds between them, while table tennis and swimming won only silvers and bronzes.

The moments that stood out

On the track and in the field, a few results defined the campaign:

  • Dilip Gavit won gold in both the men’s 100m and 400m T47.
  • Solairaj Dharmaraj defended his long jump title with an Asian record of 7.15 m.
  • Sachin Khilari set a Games record of 15.87 m in the men’s F46 shot put, in an Indian podium sweep with Mohammed Yasser and Parveen.
  • India swept the podium in the men’s T63 high jump.

One result went the other way. Bhavikkumar Bharwad was disqualified from the 400m T47 for a lane infringement and lost his silver.

Why it matters

A bigger medal count from fewer athletes points to quality improving, not just numbers. Many of India’s medallists have Paralympic experience, and the sport now gets more funding and attention than it did a decade ago. The Hangzhou squad won 111 medals with 303 athletes, while Nagoya’s squad has reached 114 with 168.

The table also shows where the opportunities lie. Athletics is the engine, but sports such as table tennis and swimming are producing medals without golds, which suggests the next breakthroughs could come there.

What to watch

The final medal table and India’s overall rank will be confirmed once all events conclude. Expect the Paralympic Committee of India and the sports ministry to respond with statements, and attention to turn to the selection process that drew criticism before the Games.



 

© Copyright 2026. All Rights Reserved. Powered by Vygr Media.

    • Apple Store
    • Google Play