Former medallists Pardeep Joon, Sahista shine as Powerlifting concludes

Tokyo Paralympian Ekta Bhyan wins gold in table tennis

Khel Today Bureau

New Delhi: The powerlifting competition came to an end at the Khelo India Para Games 2025 with former KIPG medallists making their mark on Wednesday. Over the course of the three days of competitions, the para powerlifting saw four national records being set by Jaspreet Kaur (45 kg), Manish Kumar (54 kg), Seema Rani (61 kg), and Jhandu Kumar (72 kg).

At the time of writing on Day 7 of KIPG 2025, 170 gold medals had been decided with Haryana leading the charts, having bagged 31 gold medals. Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh followed with 26 and 22 medals, respectively.

Haryana’s Pardeep Joon, who had won gold in the first edition of the Khelo India Para Games in December 2023, lifted 194 kg in 107+ kg category to win his second gold medal of the Games. Hailing from a middle class family, Pardeep began his powerlifting journey in 2021 and worked hard to clinch a gold in the National Games and Khelo India Para Games 2023.

Discussing the tough times after facing injury, Pardeep said, “I was working in a farm when I got injured which resulted in nerve damage. Due to not being able to get proper treatment, my leg had to be amputated. I was depressed for six months after my injury.”

However, Pardeep’s family and friend Jaideep supported him in these difficult times. Jaideep, introduced him to powerlifting and trained him. It motivated the 31-year-old to emerge out of his depression and gain recognition in sports.

Other than Pardeep, Delhi’s Sahista also shone bright on the concluding day of the powerlifting competition as she converted her last edition’s silver medal to gold medal this year by lifting 81 kg in the 79 kg category. When she was a child, an injection caused infection which led to a permanent damage to her knee.

Speaking about her shift to sports, Sahista, 25-year-old said, “Over time, I accepted it. I initially wanted to build biceps, but discovered Para powerlifting, which became my goal. After winning gold at the Nationals in Greater Noida, securing gold at Khelo India feels like a big point in my journey. Now, I am aiming to become a Paralympian.”

The men’s 107 kg saw Maharashtra’s Dinesh Bagade, who had won a bronze medal in the last edition of Khelo India Para Games, bagging the gold medal after lifting 157 kg. Tamil Nadu’s

Arunmoli Arunagiri also grabbed a gold medal in the women’s 86 kg category after recording a lift of 80 kg.

Meanwhile, at Indira Gandhi Stadium, the para table tennis competitions entered its business end. Haryana’s Ekta Bhyan secured gold in the Class 1 and 2 categories after she beat Deepika Ranj Ramanathan of Tamil Nadu 3-2 in a tough final on Tuesday night. Ekta, has previously represented India at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics in the club throw event and is also a bronze medallist at the Asian Para Games in Club Throw.

The 39-year-old Ekta transitioned to table tennis two years ago after club throw was not included as a discipline in Paris 2024. Despite being a hard switch, Ekta feels she is moving in the right direction with the sport.

“This was my first Khelo India Para Games. I would like to thank SAI for organising such an event. Being a wheelchair user, everything is taken care of for us. The matches were very competitive, and my opponent Deepika played very well. With such high competition, the best will come out of our hard work,” Ekta said.

RESULTS:

POWERLIFTING (all finals)

Elite-75kg (Women’s)

Gold- Sahista (Delhi); Silver-Gitika Sharma (Uttarakhand); Bronze- Sunita Dhobi (Rajasthan)

Elite- 85kg (Women’s)

Gold- Arunmoli Arunagiri (Tamil Nadu); Silver – Prabhaben Narshibhai Shiyal (Gujarat); Bronze- Samimben Vahora (Gujarat)

Elite- 107 kg (Men’s)

Gold- Dinesh Bagade (Maharashtra); Silver- Divyesh Ladani (Gujarat); Bronze- Joginder Singh (Delhi)

Elite – 107+ kg (Men’s)

Gold- Pardeep Joon (Haryana); Silver- Mohd Nadeem (Punjab); Bronze- Shyam Singh (UP).