Asian Para Games: Ayush Verma Wins Shot Put Gold with 8.16m Throw

October 21, 2026

Nagoya: India’s Ayush Verma won gold in the men’s shot put F53 final at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Para Games on Wednesday. He secured the top spot with a throw of 8.16 metres.

Iran’s Alireza Hemami finished second with 8.09 metres to take silver, while Kazakhstan’s Makhambet Serikkaliyev won bronze with 6.81 metres.

This was Ayush’s second medal at the Games in Japan. He had earlier won bronze in the men’s javelin throw F53/F54 event, where fellow Indian Pradeep Kumar took silver.

Ayush began competing in para-sports in 2020 and trained in shot put under coach Robin Kumar. He competes in seated throwing events in the F53 category.

Indian Para-Athletes Continue Medal Run

Indian athletes had another successful day at the Games on Tuesday. Deepthi Jeevanji defended her 400m T20 title, while Nishad Kumar won his second gold medal of the competition. Simran equalled a Games record in the 200m T12 event.

Pranav Soorma and Devender Kumar also won gold in discus throw events. Devender led an Indian sweep of the podium in the men’s discus throw F43/F44/F62/F64 event, winning gold with a throw of 49.71 metres and 781 Raza points.

Rakesh won silver with 49.35 metres and 771 points, while Pardeep Kumar took bronze with 51.15 metres and 669 points.

Nishad Kumar won the men’s high jump T47 gold with a Games Record clearance of 2.04 metres. He had earlier won gold in the long jump T47 on Monday.

In the men’s javelin throw F53/F54, Pradeep Kumar claimed silver with a personal best of 27.45 metres. Ayush joined him on the podium, winning bronze with 17.88 metres.

Preeti Pal won silver in the 200m T35 after finishing in 29.53 seconds. China’s Zhou Xia took gold in a Games Record time of 28.03 seconds.

India also won two bronze medals in men’s shot put. Praveen Sharma finished third in the F11 event with 13.86 metres, while Hokato Hotozhe Sema secured bronze in the F56/F57 category with 14.65 metres.