CM Samrat Choudhary Hails Bihar's Para Athletes at Asian Para Games 2026
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
Two Indian para athletes brought silver home from the Asian Para Games 2026 — and Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary was quick to salute them on Tuesday, 20 October 2026, calling their victories an inspiration for an entire generation.
In a post on X, CM Choudhary extended congratulations to Ram Ratan Singh for winning the silver medal in the men's discus throw F51/52/53 event and to Preeti Pal for claiming silver in the women's 200 metres T35 sprint. Writing in Hindi, he said: 'Whenever India's athletes raise the country's pride on global stages, the heart is overwhelmed with emotion. Your success will not remain limited to a medal alone — it will become an inspiration for the new generation.'
Preeti Pal's sprint silver and what it signals
Preeti Pal has emerged as one of India's most recognised para sprinters in the T35 classification — a category for athletes with co-ordination impairments affecting all four limbs. Her appearance at the 2026 Asian Para Games continues a trajectory of elite-level competition that has seen her feature on international tracks at the highest continental level. A silver in the 200 metres underlines that her earlier performances were no flash in the pan.
Ram Ratan Singh's discus throw and India's field-events push
Ram Ratan Singh's silver in the men's discus throw F51/52/53 — a combined classification covering seated throwers with varying upper-limb function — adds to India's growing footprint in para field events. Indian para athletes posted a strong multi-medal haul at the 2023 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, and the 2026 edition appears to be building on that momentum across both track and field disciplines.
A decade of rising para-sport ambition
India's para-sport story has been a decade in the making. Sustained investment, wider talent identification, and greater public visibility — partly driven by political leaders amplifying para-athlete achievements — have combined to push the country's medal tallies upward at every successive continental and global event. CM Choudhary's post, tagged #Cheer4Bharat and #AsianParaGames2026, reflects a now-established pattern of top political voices treating para-sport victories as moments of genuine national reckoning — not footnotes to the main athletics programme.
The final medal tally India posts at the 2026 Asian Para Games, and whether any fresh national honour or support scheme follows for the athletes, will be the next chapters in this story.