Manish Narwal climbed from bronze to silver in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 event at the Asian Para Games (APG) 2026 and, with that podium finish, secured India a quota place for the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games. On the athletics track, debutant Praveen Sharma opened his Asian Para Games account with a bronze in the Men’s Shot Put F11 event.
Narwal, a TOPS athlete, scored 233.7 in the P1 Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 final. It was a clear step up from the previous edition, APG 2022 in Hangzhou, where he finished third with 217.3. He has gained 16.4 points over that score, and a podium place that is one rung higher.
The silver capped a run of consistent form for the Faridabad shooter. Born with a congenital impairment in his right hand, Narwal dreamt of playing football as a child. His father introduced him to shooting at a local range in 2016, where coach Rakesh Thakur spotted his talent. Training left-handed, he won national titles within a year and made his international debut soon after.
His record since has placed him among India’s most successful para pistol shooters. At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, he won gold in the P4 Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 with a Paralympic record score of 218.2. He returned to the podium at Paris 2024 with a silver in the P1 Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1, the same event in which he has now won silver in Asia. He also won the P1 10m Air Pistol SH1 gold at the 2022 World Shooting Para Sport World Championships, and his honours include the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award 2021 and the Arjuna Award 2020.
Narwal arrived at the Games well prepared. At the Al Ain World Cup in November 2025, he shot 571 in P1. That beat the Hangzhou sixth-place benchmark of 565 and met the performance criterion set by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS). He trains at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi under coaches Rakesh Singh and Pavittar.
Meanwhile, Sharma’s bronze came with a throw of 13.86 metres. At 19, he is making his first appearance at the Games, and his journey to the podium has been as much a fight against paperwork as against rivals.
Sharma, from Bansarai village in Dholpur district of Rajasthan, reportedly lost his eyesight at the age of two after a severe adverse reaction to medication caused Stevens–Johnson Syndrome. He took up para athletics in 2021 under coach Suresh Kumar, specialising in shot put and discus throw in the F11 class for visually impaired athletes. He trains in Jaipur.
The most difficult stretch of his career came off the field. Competing internationally requires classification, but his applications ran into repeated hurdles because there was too little medical documentation from his childhood to establish the cause of his impairment. The GoSports Foundation, his coach, and his support team searched across several cities for the doctor who had treated him as a child. They finally traced the doctor in Delhi and obtained the papers that earned Sharma his international classification.
Success followed quickly. Sharma won gold in the Men’s Shot Put F11 at the Asian Youth Para Games 2025 and silver in the Men’s Discus Throw U20 F11/F12/F13 event. At the Khelo India Para Games 2025, he took silver in shot put and bronze in discus throw. Earlier this year, at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix 2026 in New Delhi, he won the Men’s Shot Put F11/F12/F20 event with 13.31 metres and finished second in the Men’s Discus Throw F11/F12 with 32.96 metres. His 13.86 metres in Asia is a better mark than his Grand Prix-winning effort.
Also Read: Asian Para Games 2026: Mona Agarwal Wins Gold in 10m Air Rifle, Avani Lekhara Takes Silver