SportsPara sport
Deepthi Jeevanji wins 400m T20 gold in Asian Para Games record time
The world champion from Telangana ran 56.36 seconds in Nagoya, more than two seconds clear of the field, as India added silvers in shooting, powerlifting and javelin.
Key points
- Deepthi Jeevanji won the women's 400m T20 in a Games record 56.36 seconds.
- Japan's Niina Kanno took silver in 58.92, more than two seconds behind.
- India's tally reached 23 medals (5 gold, 8 silver, 10 bronze) by Tuesday afternoon.
Deepthi Jeevanji won India’s first gold of Tuesday at the Asian Para Games in Aichi-Nagoya, taking the women’s 400m T20 title in a Games record of 56.36 seconds.
The 23-year-old from Telangana was never troubled. She crossed the line more than two seconds ahead of Japan’s Niina Kanno, who took silver in 58.92, with another Japanese runner, Akane Kato, third in 1:00.26.
It was India’s fifth gold of the Games and the latest in a run of big results for Jeevanji. She won the world title in the event in 2024, and also has a Paralympic bronze from Paris.
Who competes in T20
The T20 classification is for athletes with an intellectual impairment, which can affect how they process information, hold concentration and carry out a race plan. Jeevanji’s career has been built on doing exactly that over one of athletics’ most punishing distances, and on Tuesday she judged it perfectly.
Silvers for Narwal, Ashok and Pradeep
The rest of India’s morning brought a string of silver medals. Manish Narwal, fifth in qualifying, climbed to second in the men’s 10m air pistol SH1 final with 233.7, behind South Korea’s Jo Jeongdu on 241.3.
In para powerlifting, Ashok lifted 192 kg for silver in the men’s up to 65 kg class, which China’s Zou Yi won with 216 kg. Pradeep Kumar took silver in the men’s javelin F53/F54, where Ayush Verma won bronze. Praveen Sharma added a bronze in the men’s shot put F11.
Table tennis delivered a bundle of bronze medals, all from semi-final defeats. Bhavina Patel lost 3-0 to China’s Zhang Bian in the women’s singles class 4-5, and Sonalben Patel, Prachi Pandey and Baby Sahana Ravi also finished on the podium in their classes. Baby Sahana’s medal was India’s first in the standing category of para table tennis at the Asian Para Games.
Medals still to come
By Tuesday afternoon India had 23 medals at the Games: five gold, eight silver and ten bronze. More are already assured. Pramod Bhagat and Manisha Ramdass beat a Thai pair 21-15, 21-14 to reach the semi-finals of the mixed SL3-SU5 badminton, and in archery Swati Chaudhary and the men’s recurve doubles pair of Harvinder Singh and Vijay Sundi have reached gold medal matches later in the week.