Asian Para Games 2026: India’s October 21 Schedule, Key Finals and Badminton Matches
India’s athletes will be chasing another productive day at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games on Wednesday, October 21, after collecting 35 medals—including nine gold—in the opening two days. The packed programme features medal opportunities in para archery, athletics, swimming, cycling, judo, powerlifting and boccia, alongside a busy slate of badminton quarterfinals, semifinals and group matches.
Several Indian competitors will face athletes from China, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia and other leading para-sport nations. The schedule below is in Indian Standard Time (IST). Events marked “subject to qualification” depend on earlier results, and badminton matches listed as taking place from 5:30 a.m. onwards may be played across the session.
Early medal opportunities in para archery and athletics
The day begins with two high-profile para compound archery finals. At 5:55 a.m., Sheetal Devi and Payal Nag take on China’s Zhao Jing and Xu Xueqing in the women’s doubles final. The men’s doubles final follows at 6:20 a.m., with Toman Kumar and Shyam Sunder Swami facing China’s Zhang Yicheng and AI Xinliang. India’s archers will then return to the field for the W1 mixed team semifinals at 11:50 a.m. Swati Chaudhary and Adil Mohamed Nazir Ansari are scheduled to meet South Korea; a final against China is listed for 12:15 p.m., subject to qualification.
Athletics also offers a succession of finals across track and field. Ayush Verma opens India’s programme in the men’s F53 shot put at 5:35 a.m., followed by Simran Sharma in the women’s T12 100m heats at 5:45 a.m. Sujith Mandalamkunnath competes in the T13 long jump final at 6:02 a.m., while Anubhav Choudhary contests the T35 100m final at 6:19 a.m. Praveen Kumar and Banti are entered in the T64 high jump final at 6:45 a.m.
Other morning field events include Bhagyashri Jadhav in the women’s F34 shot put at 7:10 a.m.; Sachin Sarjerao Khilari, Parveen and Mohd. Yasser in the men’s F46 shot put at 7:45 a.m.; and Manjeet in the F12/F13 javelin final at 8 a.m. Rakeshbhai Bhatt is scheduled for the T37 100m final at 7:53 a.m.
The afternoon athletics programme starts at 1:30 p.m. with Sukhchain in the men’s F55 javelin and Karamjyoti in the women’s F55 discus. Ravi Rongali takes part in the F40 shot put at 1:40 p.m., with Preeti Pal racing in the women’s T35 100m final at 1:45 p.m. Later events include Pranav Desai in the T64 100m final at 3:20 p.m.; Vishesh in the F32 shot put at 3:30 p.m.; and Shailesh Kumar and Mahendra Gurjar in the combined T42/T61/T63 long jump at 3:35 p.m. Akira Banothu, Haney and Sharath Makanahalli are listed in the 400m, F37 discus and 1500m finals respectively, between 3:47 p.m. and 4:32 p.m.
Badminton: Indian players face a demanding knockout and group schedule
For fans following Asian Para Games badminton, India has a particularly full day, with singles, doubles and mixed-class contests beginning from 5:30 a.m. The men’s SL4 singles quarterfinals feature Sukant Kadam against Indonesia’s Fredy Setiawan, Surya Kant Yadav against Abhijeet Sakhuja, Suhas Yathiraj against South Korea’s Cho Nadan, and Naveen Sivakumar against South Korea’s Shin Kyung Hwan.
India also has two men’s SU5 singles quarterfinals: Ruthick Ragupathi faces China’s Li Mingpan, while Hardik Makkar meets Japan’s Taiyo Imai. In women’s singles, Pallavi Kaluvehalli plays Japan’s Sena Tomoyose in a WH1 Group B match. Manisha Ramdass and Shanthiya Vishwanathan are scheduled for SU5 Group A fixtures against China’s Yang Qiuxia and Indonesia’s Warining Rahayu, respectively. Thulasimathi Murugesan meets China’s Li Tongtong in a SU5 Group B match.
Doubles will bring further tests against strong opposition. Alphia James and Pallavi Kaluvehalli meet China’s Xu Tingting and Yang Fan in the WH1-WH2 women’s semifinals. Thulasimathi Murugesan and Manasi Joshi are set to face China’s Cheng Hefang and Huang Zixuan in the SL3-SU5 women’s semifinals. In the men’s SL3-SU5 quarterfinals, Nitesh Kumar and Ruthick Ragupathi play Surya Kant Yadav and Naveen Sivakumar. Krishna Nagar and Sivarajan Solaimalai also have a men’s SH6 group-stage match against China’s Lin Naili and Zeng Qingtao.
As in other para-badminton competitions, players compete in sport classes designed to group athletes with comparable impairments. The class labels help explain why the schedule includes several distinct singles and doubles brackets rather than one open competition. Progress in the knockout rounds will be especially important, while group-stage results will shape the route into later rounds.
Action across boccia, cycling, judo and powerlifting
At 8:10 a.m., Anjali Devi faces Thailand’s Ladamanee Kla-Han in the women’s individual BC3 semifinals. Her medal matches are scheduled from 1:10 p.m. The BC3 category uses an assistive ramp, with athletes directing play through an assistant, making precision and tactical placement central to the contest.
Arshad Shaik is India’s entry in the men’s C1-5 cycling time trial final at 9:45 a.m. In judo, Bijender has a demanding series of men’s J2 under-95kg round-robin contests against opponents from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Japan. Dimple competes in the women’s J2 over-70kg round robin against athletes from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and China. Vrushali More and Gulshan are listed in women’s J2 under-70kg quarterfinals, with potential semifinals, bronze-medal contests and a final dependent on qualification. Kasthuri Rajamani is scheduled for the women’s powerlifting final up to 67kg at 9 a.m.
Swimming, table tennis and wheelchair basketball
Swimming begins at 7:09 a.m., when Vaishnavi Vinod Jagtap contests the women’s S8 50m freestyle heats. Himanshu Nandal swims the men’s SB11 100m breaststroke heats at 7:26 a.m., followed by Rohit Kumar in the SB4 heats at 7:50 a.m. Afternoon finals include Jagtap in the S8 100m freestyle at 1:30 p.m. and Devanshi Satija in the S10 100m butterfly at 1:57 p.m. Niranjan Mukundan and Suyash Jadhav are entered in the men’s S7 50m butterfly final at 2:39 p.m. Further finals feature Ravi Karthik Budigina, Chaitanya Kulkarni and, subject to qualification, Nandal and Kumar.
India’s para table tennis players have a full mixed-doubles programme, with matches beginning at 12:05 p.m. Bhavina Patel and Shubham Wadhwa, Savita Ajjanakatti and Dattaprasad Chougule, and Sandeep Dangi and Sonalben Patel are among the Indian pairs facing opponents from the Philippines, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and Kuwait. Earlier, men’s MD4 and women’s WD14 and WD5 doubles fixtures begin between 6:35 a.m. and 7:10 a.m.
The men’s wheelchair basketball preliminary round is scheduled for 11:30 a.m., with India taking on China. With finals, qualifying rounds and head-to-head contests spread across the day, Indian supporters can expect a packed Wednesday—and plenty of opportunities for the contingent to add to its early medal tally.
