Hangzhou: With an astounding 111 medals at the end of their Hangzhou Asian Para Games campaign, Indian para-athletes made history on Saturday with the largest medal haul for the nation in any major international multi-sport competition.
The Indian para-athletes finished the Hangzhou Asian Games from September 23 to October 8, with a total of 111 medals, four more than the able-bodied athletes. They finished with 29 gold, 31 silver, and 51 bronze.
India ended in fifth place in the medals tally, a remarkable achievement in itself, below China (521 medals: 214 gold, 167 silver, 140 bronze), Iran (44 gold, 46 silver, 41 bronze), Japan (42, 49, 59) and Korea (30, 33, 40).
The first Para Asian Games was held in 2010 in Guangzhou, China, where India had finished 15th with 14 medals, including one gold.
In the 2014 and 2018 editions, India had finished 15th and ninth respectively.
The only instance India had crossed the 100-medal mark in a major international multi-sport event (Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games) was the 101 won during the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.
"We have made history, our para-athletes have done the country proud. We will win more medals in the Paris Paralympics than in Tokyo," Paralympic Committee of India president Deepa Malik told PTI.
"However, it is not a surprise for us. We have expected between 110 to 115 medals and we ended at 111, the auspicious number (Angel Number)," she added.
On Thursday, India had gone past the earlier highest Asian Para Games tally of 72 medals (15 gold, 24 silver, 33 bronze) achieved in the 2018 edition.
India won 39 more medals than the 2018 edition with athletics contributing 55 (18 gold, 17 silver, 20) out of India's total of 111.
Indian shuttlers contributed the second-most medals with 21, including four gold. Chess and archery gave eight and seven medals respectively while shooting contributed six.
On the concluding day on Saturday, India added 12 medals, including four gold. Seven medals came from chess, four from athletics and one from rowing. Neeraj Yadav began the day for India with a gold in men's javelin throw F55 with a Games record of 33.69m. Compatriot Tek Chand clinched a bronze with a personal best of 30.36m in the same event.
Dilip Mahadu Gaviot added another athletics gold by winning the men's 400m T47 race with a time of 49.48 seconds. Pooja then picked up the last athletics medal by bagging a bronze in the women's 1500m T20 race with a time of 5:38.81s.
Chess players saved the best for the last with a seven-medal rush, including two gold, on the final day.
India swept all three medals in the men's individual rapid VI-B1 event with Satish Inani Darpan winning gold while Pradhan Kumar Soundarya and Ashwinbhai Kanchanbhai Makwana bagged silver and bronze respectively. The trio also bagged the team gold.
Kishan Gangoli won a bronze in the men's individual rapid VI-B2/B3 event. Gangoli, Somendra and Aryan Balchandra Joshi won a team bronze in the same event. The trio of Vruthi Saganlal Jain, Himanshi Bhaveshkumar Rathi and Sanskruti Vikas More won a bronze in the women's rapid VI-B1 team event.
On Saturday, India also won the lone medal in rowing with Anita and Konganapalle Narayana picking up a silver in the PR3 mixed double sculls event.
India had sent 313 athletes at the Hangzhou Para Asian Games, the biggest in any edition with 51 Tokyo Paralympians in the team. India competed in 17 out of 22 sports, with the country fielding athletes for the first time in rowing, canoeing, lawn bowls, taekwondo and blind football.
Nearly 4,000 athletes from 43 countries are competing across 22 sports in 566 gold-medal events in the Hangzhou Asian Para Games.
The Hangzhou Asian Para Games were originally scheduled to take place from October 9-15, 2022 but were postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With PTI inputs