Indian Women Para-Athletes Shine at 2026 Asian Para Games

By: Women Entrepreneurs Review Team | Friday, 23 October 2026

The Indian contingent, Thulasimathi Murugesan, Parmod, and para recurve women's doubles Bhawna Choudhary and Pooja Jatyan won a total of three silver medals on the fifth day of 2026 Asian Para Games held at Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. In para badminton, Thulasimathi claimed silver in women’s singles SU5 category after losing 18-21, 11-21 to Qiuxia Yang of China in the final match. Bhawna and Pooja bagged silver in the women's para recurve doubles category following a 0-6 defeat to China's Gao Zihan and Wang Xueqian in the gold medal final held at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square on Friday.

With these, India's medal haul increased to 91, out of which 21 were gold, 29 silver, and 41 bronze. The Indian team managed to win none of the three sets played with scores of 31, 30, and 29 points as against 38, 35, and 39 of the Chinese pair. The Chinese managed to retain the lead in all three sets and thus won the gold medal with a 6-0 score.

Key Highlights:

• Thulasimathi Murugesan wins silver in women's singles SU5 para badminton
• Bhawna Choudhary and Pooja Jatyan secure silver in para recurve doubles
• India reaches 91 medals, including 21 gold, 29 silver and 41 bronze

Thulasimathi was born on 11th April 2002 in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu. She started her sports career at age five in athletics first and then shifted to badminton after a couple of years.An accident hampered the mobility of her left hand, which made it difficult for her to play her chosen sport. Her father, D. Murugesan, has played an important part in molding her career and he trained her for five years.

Some of her successes include winning silver medal in women’s doubles in the 2024 World Championships and gold medal in the women’s doubles category in the 2023 Fazza Dubai Para Badminton International. She has also won various medals in the 2022 Asian Para Games. Additionally, Thulasimathi will also play the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 final along with Nitesh Kumar. Their opponents will be Leani Oktila and Hikmat Ramdani from Indonesia.

Some Indians have already qualified for the fifth day of the 2026 Asian Para Games. They will participate in competitions in disciplines such as para badminton, para athletics, para swimming, para archery, para powerlifting, and shooting para sport, amongst others. The next matches for India's athletes will expose them to more chances of winning medals and improving the overall score for the team.

India also has a semifinals tie-up in para archery between Harvinder Singh and Bhawna against Zhao Lixue and Wang Xueqian of China in recurve mixed team. It is likely that India would make it to the finals as the medal match up for the event will be there.

Coming to para athletics, Indians will participate in men’s javelin finals in F42 – F44 and F61 – F64 classes by Sumit Antil, Sandip Sargar and Mahendra Gurjar respectively. On the other hand, Pranav Soorma, Dharambir Nain and Amit Kumar Saroha will be competing in the finals of the men’s club throw F51 class.