Aichi-Nagoya: India won five gold medals and 18 podium finishes on Wednesday at the Asian Para Games here, taking its overall medal tally to 62. The country stands fifth in the standings with 14 gold, 22 silver and 26 bronze.
In the men's shot put F46, Sachin Khilari set a new Games record with a throw of 15.87 metres, saving his best for his sixth and final attempt. Mohammed Yasser took silver with 15.06 metres and Parveen bronze with 14.94 metres, completing an all-Indian sweep. Sprinter Simran won gold in the women's 100m T12 with a Games-record time. Praveen Kumar took gold in the men's high jump T64 with 2.05 metres, Dilip Gavit won the men's 100m T45 and Ayush Verma topped the men's shot put F53.
Athletics alone accounted for 13 gold, 14 silver and 15 bronze for India. Beyond the track and field, the country added medals in para-archery, para-swimming and powerlifting, while the badminton contingent assured itself of more podium finishes. Sheetal Devi and Payal Nag won silver in the women's compound doubles. China leads the medal table with 162 medals. In the morning session, Banti (men's high jump T44/64) and Bhagyashri Jadhav (women's shot put F34) won silver, while Manjeet (men's javelin F12/13) and Mohammed Yasser also took silver. Anubhav Choudhary (men's 100m T35) and Rakeshbhai Bhatt (men's 100m T37) claimed bronze. India had also swept up golds on Tuesday through Deepthi Jeevanji and Pranav Soorma, among others. In para-swimming, Ravi Budigina won silver, while Niranjan Mukundan and Rohit Kumar claimed bronze. In powerlifting, Ashok Malik and Kasthuri Rajamani took silver, and Krishna Nagar and Sivarajan Solaimalai won silver in the men's doubles SH6 badminton.