New Delhi, October 15 (H.S.): India will field a contingent of 168 athletes across 11 sports at the fifth Asian Para Games, scheduled to take place in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from October 18 to 24. Athletes from 45 countries are expected to compete across 19 sports at the continental multi-sport event. India will aim to build on its outstanding performance at the previous edition in Hangzhou, China, where it secured a record 108 medals, including 27 gold.

The Indian contingent includes two-time Paralympic champions Sumit Antil and Avani Lekhara. Antil will compete in the men’s F64 javelin throw event, while Lekhara will seek to defend her title in the women’s 10m air rifle competition.

Indian Contingent: Sport-by-Sport Breakdown

India’s contingent will compete in 11 sports, with para-athletics and para-badminton accounting for the largest groups of athletes.

The sport-wise breakdown is as follows:

Blind football: 10 athletes

Boccia: 2 athletes

Para-archery: 11 athletes

Para-athletics: 62 athletes

Para-badminton: 28 athletes

Para-cycling: 1 athlete

Para-judo: 7 athletes

Para-powerlifting: 8 athletes

Para-shooting: 13 athletes

Para-swimming: 16 athletes

Para-table tennis: 10 athletes

Blind Football — 10 Athletes

Boje Marbom, Klingson Marak, Pradeep Patel, Sahil, Shivam Singh, Sovendra Singh, Tushar Kumar, Vishnubhatejuba Vaghela, Aditya Sajwan and Sujeet Puthankattunikarath Sasi.

Boccia — 2 Athletes

Sachin Chamaria and Anjali Devi.

Para-Archery — 11 Athletes

Harvinder Singh, Vijay Sundi, Toman Kumar, Shyam Sunder Swami, Adil Mohammad Nazir Ansari, Vinayak Amol Breid, Sheetal Devi, Payal Nag, Bhawana, Pooja and Swati Chaudhary.

Para-Athletics — 62 Athletes

Ajay Kumar, Akira Nandan Banothu, Devendra Kumar, Honey, Dilip Mahadu Gavit, Mahendra Gurjar, Manjeet, Mohammad Basil Morsingnakathi, Nishad Kumar, Parveen, Pranav Soorma, Rakeshbhai Bhatt, Ram Ratan Singh, Rinku, Sachin Sarjerao Khilari, Shailesh Kumar, Sharath Makanahalli Shankarappa, Sumit, Ajeet Singh, Ayush Verma, Dharambir, Hokato Hotozhe Sema, Mohammad Yasser, Navdeep, Parmod, Pranav Prashant Desai, Praveen Kumar, Rakesh, Ravi Rongali, Solairaj Dharmaraj, Sujit Mandalamkunnath Sivasadasan, Varun Singh Bhati, Vishesh, Amit Kumar, Anubhav Chaudhary, Bunty, Bhavikkumar Dineshbhai Bharwad, Pradeep Kumar, Praveen Sharma, Rahul, Sandeep, Sandeep Sanjay Sargar, Soman Rana, Sukhchain, Parveen Kumar, Anjanaben Rohitbhai Bumbadiya, Deepti Jeevanji, Nimisha Chakungkalparambil Suresh, Preeti Pal, Simran, Soumya, Jayant Behera, Tejalben Amrajibhai Damor, Radha Venkatesh, Amisha Rawat, Bhagyashree Madhavrao Jadhav, Karamjyoti, Rakshita Raju, Suchitra Parida, Suvarna Raj and Ravanni Valsanaini.

Para-Badminton — 28 Athletes

Women: Manisha Ramadass, Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan, Alfiya James, Thulasimathi Murugesan, Mandeep Kaur, Neeraj, Shanthia Viswanathan, Kanak Singh Jadon, Mansi Girishchandra Joshi, Pallavi Kaluvehalli Manjunath Reddy and Sanjana Kumari.

Men: Naveen Sivakumar, Nitesh Kumar, Krishna Nagar, Pramod Bhagat, Sukant Kadam, Suryakant Yadav, Ruthik Raghupathi, Sivarajan Solaimalai, Abu Hubaida, Prem Kumar Ale, Sudarshan Muthusamy Saravankumar, Umesh Vikram Kumar, Haris Mithili Sreekumar, Hardik Makkar, Abhijeet Sukija, Rakesh Pandey and Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj.

Para-Cycling — 1 Athlete

Arshad Shaikh.

Para-Judo — 7 Athletes

Kapil Parmar, Bijendra, Renuka Narayan Salve, Kokila, Gulshan, Vrushali Ashok More and Dimple.

Para-Powerlifting — 8 Athletes

Ashok, Jhandu Kumar, Manish Kumar, Paramjeet Kumar, Suman Devi, Kasturi Rajamani, Jaspreet Kaur and Seema Rani.

Para-Shooting — 13 Athletes

Anand Krishnan H., Aamir Ahmed Bhat, Manish Narwal, Nihal Singh, Rakesh Nidagundi, Rudransh Khandelwal, Swaroop Mahavir Unhalkar, Avani Lekhara, Mona Agarwal, Bhakti Sharma, Rubina Francis, Srishti Arora and Sumedha Pathak.

Para-Swimming — 16 Athletes

Kapil Kumar, Ajay Hindurao Bhosale, Ravi Veera Venkata Bhavani Budigina, Abdul Qadir Indori, Suyash Narayan Jadhav, Chaitanya Vishwas Kulkarni, Rohit Kumar, Gopichand Linguta, Vanga Niranjan Mukundan, Tejas Nandakumar, Himanshu Nandal, Swatik Patil, Mohammad Shams Alam Sheikh, Jahangir Molla, Vaishnavi Vinod Jagtap and Devanshi Satija.

Para-Table Tennis — 10 Athletes

Bhavinaben Hasmukhbhai Patel, Sonalben Manubhai Patel, Baby Sahana Ravi, Ekta Bhayan, Prachi Pandey, Savita Vitthal Ajjankatti, Dattaprasad Jyotiram Chougule, Sandeep Dangi, Jehan Dorab Madan and Shubham Wadhwa.

India Targets Another Strong Medal Haul

India delivered its best-ever performance at the previous Asian Para Games, winning 108 medals, including 27 gold. With athletes competing across 11 sports, the country will seek to build on that achievement in Japan. Paralympic champions Sumit Antil and Avani Lekhara will be among the prominent Indian competitors as the contingent pursues success across a range of disciplines.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar