It was a day of firsts at the 2021 Asian Youth Para Games in Bahrain. Taekwondo made its debut and Nepal picked up their first ever Youth Para Games medals when they won gold (GOVERDHAN Palesha K44 Female -57kg), Silver (GHISING Shrijana K44 Female -52kg) and Bronze (GARBUJA Bishal K44 Male -58kg). The gold medal was consolation for Goverdhan who had narrowly missed out on a medal at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. I.R. Iran won seven of the 22 medals on offer, including three golds, with Uzbekistan’s fighters the next most successful winning two golds. Overall all eight countries who entered picked up a medal which bodes well for Asia in this thrilling sport.
Cambodia’s THOLRADETH Ya won his country’s first ever medal at a Youth Para Games when he took silver in the 1500m M U20 T46 event. He is the only athlete from Cambodia at the games, let’s hope his performance inspires others to follow in his footsteps.
The first Powerlifting medals were also awarded at the Games and it was Saudi Arabia’s Adnan NoorSaeed who clinched the first gold medal of the competition after lifting 117kg in the men’s junior -49kg event. Uzbekistan won three gold medals overall on day one of competition with Indonesia and Thailand getting two each.
Korea and I.R. Iran picked up one gold apiece and UAE’s birthday girl Ayesha Almutaiwei got a silver medal on her special day in the youth -79kg.
In Goalball the final pool matches and semi-finals were played. In the men’s competition, I.R. Iran continued their impressive form, sweeping aside Iraq 13-3 in the semi-final. Having not lost a game throughout the tournament, they surely head into tomorrow’s final against Thailand as favourites. Thailand beat Korea twice in one day, once in the earlier pool match 14-4, then in the semi-final 12-5. In the women’s competition I.R. Iran narrowly beat Korea 8-7 to advance to the final where they will meet Thailand.
The Wheelchair Basketball competition ends tomorrow and the final will see I.R.Iran, who are unbeaten throughout the tournament, face off against Iraq. Iraq will be hoping for a better result that when they met earlier in the competition though as I.R. Iran won 102-27, Iraq’s only defeat of the event. Thailand and Saudi Arabia will battle it out for bronze.
With medals in the pool and at the track and field, I.R. Iran extended their lead on the medal table. A total of 22 out of the 30 countries here have now won a medal. The competition concludes tomorrow (6 December).
| Position by Gold medals | At end of 05/12/2021 | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | I.R. Iran | 34 | 44 | 19 | 97 |
| 2 | Thailand | 24 | 20 | 11 | 55 |
| 3 | Japan | 21 | 7 | 7 | 35 |
| 4 | Korea | 9 | 5 | 18 | 32 |
| 5 | Indonesia | 9 | 8 | 10 | 27 |
| 6 | Uzbekistan | 9 | 1 | 4 | 14 |
| 7 | Hong Kong | 8 | 9 | 9 | 26 |
| 8 | Iraq | 8 | 4 | 9 | 21 |
| 9 | India | 4 | 3 | 9 | 16 |
| 10 | Malaysia | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 |
| 11 | Bahrain | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| 12 | Singapore | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| 13 | Saudi Arabia | 2 | 5 | 9 | 16 |
| 14 | Sri Lanka | 2 | 5 | 4 | 11 |
| 15 | UAE | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| 16 | Chinese Taipei | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 17 | Nepal | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 18 | Kuwait | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 | Philippines | 0 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| 20 | Jordan | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 21 | Cambodia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Pakistan | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
