Three medals in a day! Thulasimathi Murugesan caps Asian Para Games campaign with gold

Thulasimathi Murugesan

NEW DELHI: Thulasimathi Murugesan produced a memorable triple-medal performance at the Asian Para Games 2026 on Friday, winning gold and two silver medals as India's para-badminton contingent enjoyed a productive day in Aichi-Nagoya. The 24-year-old Paris Paralympics silver medallist capped her campaign with gold in the women's doubles SL3-SU5 event, partnering Manasi Joshi to defeat China's Yang Qiuxia and Xiao Zuxian 21-16, 21-13 in the final. The Indian pair wrapped up the contest in just 28 minutes. Thulasimathi had earlier settled for silver in the women's singles SU5 final, losing 18-21, 11-21 to China's Yang. She then teamed up with Nitesh Kumar in the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 final, but the Indian combination went down 21-11, 19-21, 14-21 to Indonesia's Leani Ratri Oktila and Hikmat Ramdani.

Nitesh, Naveen strike gold for India

Nitesh, the Paris Paralympic champion, enjoyed a successful day of his own, winning gold in the men's singles SL3 event before adding mixed doubles silver with Thulasimathi. The 31-year-old defeated compatriot and Tokyo Paralympic gold medallist Pramod Bhagat 21-18, 21-16 in the men's singles final. "Last time I was close, I was leading 19-16 in the third set, and then I lost. So this time, winning it and again winning in two sets against Pramod is, of course, very special, and I think it's one of the rarest of the rare things to see," Nitesh said after his victory. Naveen Sivakumar added another gold for India, beating Indonesia's Fredy Setiawan 21-9, 21-17 in the men's singles SL4 final. Making his Asian Para Games debut, Naveen completed the win in 36 minutes. Pramod had to settle for silver after winning gold in the 2018 and 2022 editions. India's Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan also claimed silver in the women's singles SH6 final after losing to China's Li Fengmei.

India close in on best-ever medal tally

India continued to collect medals across disciplines on Friday. Para shooter Mona Agarwal won her second gold of the Games in the women's 50m rifle 3 Positions SH1 final, setting a world record with 357.5 points. She finished 3.8 points ahead of China's Cuiping Zhang. In para archery, Harvinder Singh and Vijay Sundi won gold in the men's recurve doubles event. Sandeep claimed the men's 400m T64 title, while Haney won gold in the men's javelin throw F37/38 event. India also added silver medals through Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan, Pooja Jatyan and Bhawna Choudhary in women's recurve doubles, Parmod Bijarnia in the men's 1500m T46 and Nimisha Suresh in the women's long jump T47. Jehan Madan and Shubham Wadhwa secured bronze in men's doubles para table tennis MD4. India's tally stood at 106 medals — 28 gold, 34 silver and 44 bronze — with the country fourth in the standings. The contingent is chasing its best-ever Asian Para Games haul of 108 medals, achieved at Hangzhou in 2023.