WPAC 2025: India bags its biggest haul as sprinters help Brazil end event in blaze of glory

New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) India capitalised on home conditions to finish with the best-ever performance and medal tally in the World Para Athletics Championships 2025, bagging 22 medals (6 gold, 9 silver, 7 bronze), finishing in 10th position in the competition held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Sunday. 

Besides the 22 medals, Indian athletes also set three Championship Records, seven Asian Records, and achieved nine 4th place finishes and more than 30 personal best performances in the World Para Athletics Championships hosted by the country for the first time.

India finished 10th, though it secured the biggest haul in any edition of the World Championships. The home side claimed 6 gold, 9 silver, and 7 bronze medals, thanks to silver medals for women’s 100m T12 silver by Simran, Preeti Pal in the women’s 100m T35, and Navdeep in men’s Javelin Throw T41, as well as bronze for Sandeep in men’s 200 m T44 on Sunday.

Simran did well to script another fine run, creating an Asian Record of 24.46 seconds, but that was good enough only for a silver medal. Venezuela’s Alejandra Paola Perez Lopez, who had finished first, was disqualified for violating a rule on pulling, sling-shotting, and assistance. That led to Simran‘s medal being upgraded to silver.

Simran emerged as the Indian star of the Championships with a gold and a silver, while Preeti Pal was the other home athlete who won two medals – a silver and a bronze. India, which had finished sixth in 2024 with fewer medals, can take heart from the fact that more athletes got among the podium finishers while several were a whisker away from the medals.

If Simran’s bronze medal finish was converted in the Jury room to a silver, a ruling saw the women’s 100m T35 final being re-run. The race had to be conducted again after the Jury ruled that there was a gun malfunction at the start of the scheduled race. Preeti Pal made the most of the opportunity to win silver.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s women sprinters Jerusa Geber (200m T11) and Clara D Barros Da Silva (200m T12) won gold medals to help their country beat back a strong final day surge in the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships that drew to a close on Sunday.

China did not top the medals table for the first time since finishing sixth in 2013. Brazil claimed the privilege with 15 gold, 20 silver, and 9 bronze for a total of 44 medals. China, which has led the table in five successive editions from 2015 to 2024, claimed eight more medals than Brazil. However, with 13 gold, 22 silver, and 17 bronze, China was second this time.

Chinese athletes won three gold medals in the final session, and those would have been enough to turn the tables on Brazil in the race to the top, but the Latin American nation was well served by its sprinters and kept its nose ahead on the medal table. It was a creditable performance by the Brazilians in taking pride of place after finishing second in three successive editions.

As many as 35 World Records and 104 Championship Records were set during the nine days of intense competition on the newly-laid Mondo track in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. 35 World Records are equal to Paris 2023 and 14 more than last year’s event in Kobe, Japan. As many as 44 nations won at least one gold medal, and as many as 63 countries went home with at least one medal to show for their efforts.

The results (finals):

Men

100m T63: 1. Puseletso Michael Mabote (South Africa) 12.03 seconds (New Championships Record. Old: 12.06, Puseletso Michael Mabote, 2025); 2. Partic (Indonesia) 12.26; 3. Daniel Wagner (Denmark) 12.28.

200m T44: 1. Marco Cicchetti (Italy) 23.00 seconds; 2. Pavlo Kaplun (Ukraine) 23.12; 3. Sandeep (India) 23.60.

200m T51: 1. Peter Genyn (Belgium) 37.95 seconds; 2. Roger Habsch (Belgium) 38.87; 3. Edgar Cesareo Navarro (Mexico) 41.65.

200m T64: 1. Felix Streng (Germany) 21.60 seconds; 2. Sherman Isidro Guity (Costa Rica) 21.70; 3. Francesco Loragno (Italy) 22.56.

400m T62: 1. Joahnnes Floors (Germany) 45.39 seconds (New Championships Record. Old: 45.78, Floors, 2019); 2. Olivier Hendriks (Netherlands) 47.13; 3. Konstantinos Tourkochoritis (Greece) 57.05.

800m T54: 1. Jin Hua (China). 1:27.04 (New World Record. Old: 1:27.76, Marcel Hug, Switzerland, 2023; Old CR: 1:30.34, Jin Hua, 2025); 2. Dai Yunquiang (China) 1:31.46; 3. Yassine Gharbi (Tunisia) 1:31.53.

1500m T38: 1. Nate Tucker (Canada) 3:14.97 (New Championships Record. Old: 4:02.04, Nate Ticker, 2019); 2. Amen Allah Tissaoi (Tunisia) 3:58.19 (New World Record for T37 class. Old WR & CR: 3:58.31, Tissaoui, 2024); 3. Angus Hinchsman (Australia) 3:58.19.

Long Jump T36: 1. Evgenii Torsunov (Neutral Para Athlete) 6.14m (New World Record. Old WR: 6.06, Torsunov, 2024; Old CR: 5.75, Torsunov, 2015); 2, William Stedman (New Zealand) 5.83; 3. Oleksandr Lyvtynenko (Ukraine) 5.81.

Shot Put F34: 1. Mehran Nikoeimajid (Iran) 12.27m (New World Record. Old: 12.25, Ahmad Hindi, Jordan, 2021; Old CR: 12.17, Ahmad Hindi, 2019); 2. Ahmad Hindi (Jordan) 11.87; 3. Mauricio Valencia (Colombia) 11.50.

Shot Put F63: 1. Aled Davies (Great Britain) 16.44m; 2. Faisal Souror (Kuwait) 16.28; 3. Edenilson Roberto (Brazil) 14.96.

Javelin Throw F41: 1. Sadegh Beit Sayan (Iran) 48.86m; 2. Navdeep (India) 45.46; 3. Sun Pengxian (China) 43.60.

Women

100m T35: 1. Guo Qianqian (China) 14.24 seconds; 2. Preeti Pal (India) 14.33; 3. Fatimah Suwaed (Iraq) 14.39.

200m T11: 1. Jerusa Geber (Brazil) 24.88 seconds; 2. Liu Yiming (China) 25.54; 3. Thalita V Simplicio Da Silva (Brazil) 25.97.

200m T12: 1. Clara D Barros Da Silva (Brazil) 24.42 seconds; 2. Simran (India) 24.46; 3. Shen Yaqin (China)

200m T37: 1. Wen Xiaoyan (China) 26.70 seconds; 2. Natalia Kobzar (Ukraine) 27.34; 3. Taylor Swanson (USA) 28.22.

200m T44: 1. Anna Carey (USA) 27.31 seconds; 2. Victoria Jade Levitt (Great Britain) 27.46; 3. Bebe Jackson (Great Britain) 28.19.

200m T47: 1. Kiara Rodriguez (Ecuador) 24.34 seconds (New World Record. Old WR & CR: 24.37, Kiara Rodriguez, 2025); 2. Maria C A Da Silva (Brazil) 24.77; 3. Anna Grimaldi (New Zealand) 24.82.

200m T64: 1. Marlene van Gansewinkel (Netherlands) 26.16 seconds; 2. Marissa Papaconstnatinou (Canada) 27.07; 3. Syndey Barta (USA) 27.51.

400m T13: 1. Carolina Duarte (Portugal) 57.08; 2. Mariia Ualianenko (Neutral Para Athlete) 58.31; 3. Mana Sasaki (Japan) 59.39.

400m T38: 1. Karen T Palomque (Colombia) 59.45 seconds; 2. Chen Zimo (China) 1:00.14; 3. Lindy Ave (Germany) 1:00.20.

Discus Throw F38: 1. Simone Kruger (South Africa) 37.39; 2. Mi Na (China) 36.53; 3. Li Yingli (China) 36.10.

Revised result:

Women’s Discus Throw F55: 1. Diana Krumina (Latvia) 26.51; 2. Erica M. Castano (Colombia) 25.16; 3. Maria Guadalupe Navarro (Mexico) 25.02; 6. Sakshi Kasana (India) 22.47; 7. Karamjyoti Dalal (India) 21.12; 8. Pooja (India) 19.45.

--IANS

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