India's contingent has secured its best-ever performance at a World Para Athletics Championships, raising its medal tally to 18 on the penultimate day of the 2025 edition in New Delhi. The host nation added three medals on Saturday at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, surpassing its previous best of 17 medals from the Kobe championships last year. The day's haul included two silver medals from Ekta Bhyan and Soman Rana, and a bronze from Praveen Kumar, placing India fifth in the overall standings.
Ekta Bhyan, the defending champion in the women's Club Throw F51, secured a silver medal with a season-best throw of 19.80m on her final attempt. In the men’s Shot Put F57, 42-year-old Soman Rana won his first world-level medal, claiming silver with a throw of 14.69m. Paris Paralympics gold medalist Praveen Kumar added a bronze in the men’s High Jump T64, clearing a season's best height of 2.00m despite a recent back injury.
Following her event, Bhyan expressed satisfaction with her performance despite the challenging weather conditions. "The target was gold obviously, but this is my third world championship medal and I am glad I could repeat my performance from last year," the 40-year-old said. She noted the difficulty of gripping the club in the humid Delhi weather, but was motivated by the fact her event has been reinstated for the LA 2028 Paralympics after being dropped for the Paris Games.
There was drama in the men's Shot Put F57, where Soman Rana's medal was upgraded from bronze to silver. Brazil’s Thiago Paulino Dos Santos, who had initially finished second, had his best throw of 14.82m disqualified and marked as a foul, which elevated Rana in the final standings. This came in as a welcome surprise for the Indian Army veteran, who lost his right leg in a mine blast in 2006.
With one day of competition remaining, India's final tally stands at six gold, seven silver, and five bronze medals. The 12th edition of the championships, which concludes on Sunday, has seen over 2,000 athletes from 104 nations compete. India has more athletes, including javelin thrower Navdeep Singh and sprinter Simran Sharma, scheduled to compete in finals today.