Nagoya: India’s Pranav Soorma and Ram Ratan Singh secured a one-two finish in the men’s discus throw combined F51/52/53 event at the Asian Para Games 2026 here on Tuesday, with Soorma setting an Asian record of 11.66 metres to win the gold medal.
Soorma produced his record-breaking effort on his fourth attempt, earning 932 Raza points to take the top spot on the podium. Ram Ratan claimed the silver medal with a best throw of 10.35 metres, collecting 809 Raza points to complete a memorable double podium finish for India.
Soorma began the competition with a throw of 10.79 metres before registering a foul on his second attempt. He improved to 11.35 metres on his third attempt and then delivered his best effort of 11.66 metres on the fourth to establish the Asian record. He followed it up with a throw of 11.54 metres on his fifth attempt before closing his series with 10.59 metres.
Ram Ratan initially took the lead with his second-attempt throw of 10.35 metres after recording a foul on his opening attempt. However, he could not improve on that mark in his subsequent attempts, recording fouls on his third and fourth throws. He managed 10.02 metres on his fifth attempt and finished with 10.13 metres on his sixth.
Soorma’s fourth-attempt effort proved decisive, moving him ahead of his compatriot and securing India the top two positions in the event. Pranav was the defending gold medal winner in the F51 club throw from the previous edition of the Para Asian Games. He had also won a silver medal in the event at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Iran’s Alireza Hemami finished third in the competition, competing in the F53 category with a throw of 20.20 metres.
Earlier on Tuesday, Indian swimmer Himanshu Nandal won bronze in the men’s 400m freestyle S11 event, clocking 5 minutes and 10.91 seconds to secure another podium finish for the country.
(IANS)
