Asian Para Games: Himanshu Nandal bags second bronze with third-place finish in 100m breaststroke

NAGOYA: Indian swimmer Himanshu Nandal clinched his second bronze medal at the Asian Para Games, finishing third in the men’s 100m breaststroke S11 event here on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old from Rohtak, Haryana, who has been completely visually impaired since birth due to an optic nerve failure, clocked 1:20.72 seconds. China’s Yang Bozun won the gold in a Games-record time of 1:12.69, while Japan’s Keiichi Kimura took silver in 1:12.72.

Himanshu had opened his medal account on Tuesday, clocking 5:10.91 to finish third in a four-swimmer field in the men’s 400m freestyle S11 event.

Coming from a family with a sporting background, Himanshu was inspired by his father, who played hockey at the national level. He moved to Delhi at the age of four and joined the National Association for the Blind, where he learnt Braille.

A political science graduate from Delhi University’s Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, Himanshu initially took up judo and won medals at the national level before switching to swimming in 2021.

In 2024, he became the first Indian blind swimmer to achieve the Minimum Qualification Standard for the Paris Paralympics.

The S11 classification in para swimming is for athletes with severe visual impairment, including those with very low visual acuity or no light perception.