India’s Jehan Dorab Madan signed off with a bronze medal at the , in the men’s doubles MD4 table tennis event on Friday. Partnering Shubham Wadhwa, Madan suffered a 0-3 defeat against South Korea’s Park Jincheol and Kim Kyung-hyun in their last match of Group A.
The Indian pair lost 12-14, 7-11, 5-11 to their Korean opponents but still finished in the top four in their group to claim the medal. The Jehan-Shubham duo had a mixed camping, suffering defeats against two South Korean pairs and a Thailand combination.
Their only win came against a Saudi Arabia duo of Rakan Alsalmi and Ibrahim Alhassan, who they defeated 3-1 in a Group A match on Wednesday. However, the Indian pair lost 0-3 to Thailand’s Thirayu Chueawong and Nattawut Thinathat.
Then they lost 1-3 to South Korea’s Kim Hyeonuk and Jang Yeongjin in their subsequent group matches. South Korea dominated the medal standings, with Kim Hyeonuk and Jang Yeongjin winning gold, while Park Jincheol and Kim Kyung-hyun claimed silver.
Thailand’s Chueawong and Thinathat took the bronze medal. Earlier on Tuesday, Jehan had won a bronze in men’s singles Class 1, thus finishing with two medals in his tally.
Born in Tamin Nadu, Jehan is a former racing driver. As a child Jehan picked up a tennis racket at the age of six and played almost every day. Growing up, Jehan’s interest grew in racing and it subsequently became his hobby. He later turned his hobby at a higher level, and competed in single-seater open-wheel race cars on the circuits around Chennai.
However, a road accident 18 years ago while on a business trip to Mumbai, left him paralysed from the chest down. Despite the disability, Jehan refused to give up as he discovered his love for table tennis in 2021, 14 years after the near-fatal day of his life.
It all started with studying the videos of Paralympic matches, and convinced himself that he could also do what other players are doing. His first major breakthrough came when he entered the National Para Table Tennis Championships with zero expectations and won a silver medal in Men’s Class 1 within months of picking up the sport.
“When you are paralysed, the most important thing is to stay active so your body can function,” the 50-year-old said. “At one point, I could not even lift a spoon, but I kept trying so my body would start to adapt. Now, everything seems easy,” said Jehan, as quoted by TOI.
Since then, his rise has been rapid. He won his first international gold at the 2023 ITTF Egypt Para Open and since then the journey has been upwards.
For the record, Jehan has won a total of 13 medals in ITTF tournaments till date: 1 gold, 4 silver and 8 bronze. In fact in 2025-26 season, Jehan won 9 medals: 5 in singles (2 silver, 3 bronze) and 4 in doubles (2 silver, 2 bronze).
