&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Asian Para Games: Nishad Kumar clinches T47 long jump gold; Ravi Budigina bags swimming silver")
Indian athletes brought home another gold medal on Monday (Oct 19) at the Para Asian Games, with Nishad Kumar clinching one in the T47 long jump discipline in Aichi-Nagoya. A two-time Paralympic silver medalist, Nishad recorded his best effort of 7.11m to win gold in his first international appearance in this discipline. Elsewhere, an 18-year-old Ravi Karthik Budigina secured a silver medal in the men’s 100m freestyle S13 swimming competition, clocking 56.80 seconds.
Earlier in the day, Mona Agarwal and Avani Lekhara won gold and silver, respectively, in the women’s 10m air rifle (SH1) event.
Also read| Asian Para Games: Mona Agarwal secures shooting gold with record score; Avani Lekhara claims silver
Primarily a high jump athlete, Nishad produced a dominant performance to secure India’s second gold medal at the Para Asiad so far. Nishad began the long jump final with a 6.95m effort before improving it to 7.09m in his second attempt. In his third attempt, he registered his best jump (7.11m).
Following a fouled fourth attempt, he registered another 7.11m jump in his fifth attempt before concluding his turn with another 7m-plus leap (7.07m).
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Uzbekistan’s Omadbek Khasanov settled for silver with his season-best effort of 6.99m, while Sri Lanka’s Mohammadu Safran bagged bronze with a jump of 6.55m.
Meanwhile, the gold medal win marked another milestone in Nishad’s career, as he finished second in the men’s high jump T47 at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Paralympics. At the 2022 Asian Para Games, Nishad won gold and became the 2025 World Para Athletics champion, with an Asian record of 2.14m in the high jump.
Silver for India in Swimming
Teenager Ravi Karthik Budigina settled for silver, with Uzbekistan's Egor Bolotov claiming the top prize with a time of 52.90 seconds.
Hailing from Andhra Pradesh, Ravi is regarded as one of India’s emerging para-swimming talents, and competes in the S13, SB13 and SM13 classifications for athletes with visual impairments.
India’s tally has risen to six so far in the competition, with Kokila bagging silver in the women's J2 -52kg judo event, and Kapil Parmar settling for bronze in the men's J1 -70kg category.
