A para badminton player from one of India's most remote northeastern states just stood on the international podium — twice. Biri Takar, an athlete from Arunachal Pradesh backed by the state government's flagship sports scheme, claimed gold in Men's Doubles and bronze in Men's Singles at the Brazil Para Badminton International 2026, drawing a proud public salute from Chief Minister Pema Khandu.

Two medals, one message from Itanagar

CM Khandu took to X on Monday, 4 August 2026 to congratulate Takar, calling the performance 'outstanding' and pointing directly at the engine behind it: the Chief Minister's Award to Champion Excellence in Sports (CM ACES) programme. 'The CM ACES programme is producing results,' Khandu wrote. 'It's identifying talent, supporting athletes, and creating champions who are bringing glory to Arunachal Pradesh and India on the international stage.'

The twin-medal haul — gold and bronze across two disciplines — signals that Takar is not a one-event performer. It is a result that lands with particular weight coming from a state whose athletes have historically competed with limited institutional backing.

What CM ACES actually does

Launched by the Arunachal Pradesh government, CM ACES is a targeted scheme designed to scout, fund, and develop athletes from the state for competitive sport at national and international levels. Para athletes are explicitly within its ambit — a deliberate choice that puts Arunachal in step with a growing number of Indian states that have begun building dedicated pipelines for differently-abled sportspersons.

Across the Northeast, state-level sports schemes have increasingly moved from generic grants to structured talent-identification systems. CM ACES represents Arunachal's bet on that model — and Biri Takar's medals in Brazil are the clearest public proof of return on that investment so far.

Arunachal's growing footprint on the para-sports map

Para badminton has been on an upward trajectory in India, with the sport gaining visibility after strong performances by Indian shuttlers at global Para events in recent years. For a frontier state like Arunachal Pradesh — geographically vast, infrastructure-constrained — producing a double-medallist at an international para tournament is a genuine milestone, not a routine result.

The watch now is on whether Takar's performance accelerates state investment in para-sports infrastructure and whether other CM ACES athletes follow with results of their own on the international circuit.

Biri Takar flew to Brazil as a state-backed athlete and came home a two-time international medallist — the kind of return that makes the case for every rupee a sports scheme spends.