Nagoya, Oct 19 (IANS) Indian swimmer Karthik Budigina clinched a silver medal in the Men’s 100m Freestyle S13 event at the Nagoya City General Gymnasium during the ongoing Asian Para Games here on Monday.
Karthik secured India’s first swimming medal at the ongoing Games when he finished second in the 100m freestyle event with a time of 56.68s. Uzbekistan’s Egor Bolotov won the gold medal with a finish of 52.90s, while Kazakhstan’s Viktor Volkov won the bronze after clocking a time of 57.23s.
The 18-year-old Karthik was also in action during the Commonwealth Games 2026, where he agonisingly missed out on a medal in the same category as he finished fourth in the final. He also finished sixth in the Men’s 59m freestyle S13 event at the Glasgow Games 2026.
Meanwhile, Karthik had a stellar run at the 2025 Asian Youth Para Games where he won six medals – three gold and as many silvers. His gold medals came in the 200m Individual Medley (SM11-13), 100m Butterfly (S11-13) and the 100m Breaststroke (SB13) event.
The silver medals came in the 100m Freestyle (S13), 100m Backstroke (S11-13) and the 50m Freestyle (S13) events.
Moreover, this was India’s third silver medal at the ongoing Asian Para Games. Before Karthik, Judoka Kokila secured a silver in the women’s J2 -52kg judo event after Kyrgyzstan’s Aibike Ulanbek Kyzy defeated her by ippon in just 21 seconds in the gold-medal bout at the Aichi Prefectural Martial Arts Hall.
Kokila entered the final on the back of an impressive semifinal performance against China’s reigning world champion Yi Liu, whom she defeated to guarantee India a medal. However, the Indian judoka was unable to replicate that success in the title clash, with Ulanbek Kyzy delivering a decisive finish to claim gold.
Earlier in the day, India’s Avani Lekhara had also bagged a silver in the Women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 event, where her compatriot Mona Agarwal had clinched a gold medal.
–IANS
vm/vi