Seven medals, two records: Indian para-athletes finish historic Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2026
Glasgow: India's para-athletes wrote a historic chapter at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games on Saturday by matching their entire medal haul from all prior editions combined, bagging seven medals—including a gold and silver.
The 28-member Indian para-sports squad concluded its campaign with a tally of seven medals, comprising three gold, two silver, and two bronze.
This represents the most successful campaign in the history of Indian para-sports at the Commonwealth Games.
Since para-sports were first integrated into the CWG programme at the 2002 Manchester Games, India had previously accumulated a total of seven medals across all editions: one gold, two silver, and four bronze.
Prior to Glasgow, the Birmingham 2022 Games stood as the most fruitful outing for Indian para-athletes, where Bhavina Patel claimed gold and Sonalben Patel secured bronze in para-table tennis.
Notably, Sudhir had captured gold in para-powerlifting in Birmingham before being stripped of the medal following a failed in-competition doping test.
In Glasgow, para-track and field competitors accounted for six medals—three gold, two silver, and one bronze—while Jhandu Kumar secured the remaining bronze in para-powerlifting.
The para-athletics squad also ended a 20-year drought for an Indian medal in the discipline at the CWG. The previous para-athletics podium finish had come courtesy of Ranjith Kumar Jayaseelan in the men's seated discus throw at the 2006 Games.
India achieved three double podium finishes in para-athletics in Glasgow: Sharmila (gold) and Shilpa Shyla (bronze) in the women's shot put F57; Dilip Mahadu Gavit (gold) and Mohammed Basil (silver) in the men's 100m T47; and Soman Rana (gold) and Shubham Juyal (silver) in the men's shot put F57.
In addition to the medal count, Indian competitors established one Games record and one Asian record.
During the official send-off ceremony for the delegation, Paralympic Committee of India President Devendra Jhajharia had predicted that India could secure a record six medals in para-sports in Glasgow.
Ahead of the Games, the para-powerlifting squad completed their training camp at the Sports Authority of India centre in Gandhinagar, while the para-athletics team trained at the SAI facility in Bengaluru.
PTI