Indian Para Athletes Create History, Bag 111 Medals In Hangzhou Asian Para Games

Indian para athletes created history on Saturday as they ended their Hangzhou Asian Para Games campaign with an unprecedented 111 medals, the biggest haul for the country in any major international multi-sport event. With 29 gold, 31 silver and 51 bronze in their kitty, the Indian para athletes won four medals more than the record tally of 107 won by the able-bodied athletes in the Hangzhou Asian Games held from September 23 to October 8.

India ended at 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