Prime Minister felicitates India’s Asian Para Games 2026 contingent

Para badminton medal winners with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Mansukh Mandaviya and Minister of State Raksha Khadse at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in New Delhi on Thursday. Coach M.V. Murali Krishna is also seen. | Photo Credit: ANI Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (November 5, 2026) congratulated India’s Asian Para Games 2026 contingent during a ceremony at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in New Delhi, where he also felicitated their families, trainers, and coaches.Contrasting the present with 2010, when India won one gold and 14 medals in all, Mr. Modi stated that the contingent had won 114 medals at Aichi-Nagoya: 30 gold, 35 silver and 49 bronze. India finished fourth, its best placing at the Games. He said the athletes also set five world records and nine Asian records, and that 34 of the 56 women in the team won medals.Among those present were M.V. Murali Krishna, a Visakhapatnam resident and coach of the Indian para badminton team, which won 16 medals: three gold, five silver and eight bronze. “None of the badminton players were from Andhra Pradesh,” he said.The State had medallists in other sports. Ravanni Valasanaini, a visually impaired runner from Paderu in Alluri Sitharama Raju district won bronze in the women’s 400m and 1,500m; Ravi Karthik Budigina of Jangareddygudem in Eluru district won India’s first swimming medal of the Games, a silver in the men’s 100m freestyle, and added two more; Ravi Rongali from Anakapalli district took bronze in the men’s shot put. Andhra Pradesh medal winners of the Asian Para Games 2026 from left: Swimmer Ravi Karthik Budigina, shot putter Ravi Rongali, Visakhapatnam-based coach of the Indian para badminton team M.V. Murali Krishna, runner Ravanni Valasanaini and her guide Tabres Khan. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT Mr. Murali Krishna said the success must now reach the grassroots. “A lot of transformation has been done at a higher level, but it is not coming to the local level,” he said. “Being a coach from Visakhapatnam, I felt so bad that India got 16 badminton medals but we could not produce one badminton player from Andhra Pradesh.”He said a memento made by an Etikoppaka artisan was presented to the Prime Minister. “He liked it very much. This is how I want to involve many fields in sports and grow hand in hand,” he said.Mr. Murali Krishna, who said that he serves the national team in an honorary capacity, offers free coaching to para athletes at the Swarna Bharathi Indoor Stadium in Visakhapatnam. He is preparing a young amputee from Arilova for international events. He said the stadium, recently renovated, has no ramp, which keeps wheelchair users from training there.On his return, he plans to hold local competitions for para athletes of any age, using his academies and small contributions from officials and industrialists. His aim, he said, is “one or two representatives” from the district in the national team. He has invited persons with disabilities to contact him to explore careers in para sport. Published - November 06, 2026 08:17 pm IST