Aichi-Nagoya [Japan], October 23 (ANI): India's Nitesh Kumar and Thulasimathi Murugesan clinched silver in the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 para badminton event at the Asian Para Games 2026 after going down to Indonesia's Leani Ratri Oktila and Hikmat Ramdani in a three-game final on Friday.
The Indian pair made a strong start, winning the opening game 21-11, but the Indonesian combination fought back to take the second game 21-19 before sealing the gold medal with a 21-14 win in the decider.
Despite missing out on gold, Nitesh and Thulasimathi added another silver to India's medal tally on a productive Day 5 of the continental multi-sport event in Aichi-Nagoya.
Nitesh had earlier won gold in the men's singles SL3 event, defeating compatriot Pramod Bhagat in the final. Pramod settled for silver, while Naveen Sivakumar secured another gold for India by beating Indonesia's Fredy Setiawan in the men's singles SL4 final.
India continued to collect medals across disciplines, with para shooter Mona Agarwal setting a world record to win her second gold of the Games in the women's 50m rifle 3 Positions SH1 final.
Mona registered a score of 357.5 to finish 3.8 points ahead of China's Cuiping Zhang. She had previously won gold in the women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 event on the opening day. India's Avani Lekhara finished fourth in the 50m rifle 3 Positions final after being among the top two following the prone position.
In para archery, Harvinder Singh and Vijay Sundi won gold in the men's recurve doubles event. Sandeep claimed gold in the men's 400m T64 final, with Ajay Kumar taking bronze, while Haney secured gold in the men's javelin throw F37/38 final.
India also won silver through Thulasimathi in the women's singles SU5 event, Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan in women's singles SH6, Pooja Jatyan and Bhawna Choudhary in women's recurve doubles, Parmod Bijarnia in men's 1500m T46 and Nimisha Suresh in women's long jump T47. Jehan Madan and Shubham Wadhwa added a bronze in men's doubles para table tennis MD4.
India had 104 medals, comprising 27 gold, 34 silver and 43 bronze, and were fourth in the standings at the time of writing, with China leading the table with 366 medals.
India are aiming to surpass their best-ever Asian Para Games tally of 111 medals, achieved at the Hangzhou edition in 2023, as competition continues in Aichi-Nagoya. (ANI)
Asian Para Games: Nitesh-Thulasimathi pair secures silver medal in mixed doubles SL3-SU5
