Four Tamil Nadu para athletes returned from Japan's 5th Para Asian Games carrying medals — and on Friday, 23 October 2026, the Chief Minister's Office of Tamil Nadu, posting on behalf of Chief Minister Joseph Vijay, made sure those achievements came with a financial salute worth crores.

Gold, silver, and bronze — what Tamil Nadu's athletes won

Shuttler Naveen Sivakumar claimed the top prize: a gold medal in the Men's Singles SL4 badminton category, the highest finish among the group. Thulasimathi Murugesan won silver in Women's Singles SU5 badminton, while Nithya Sre added a second silver to Tamil Nadu's tally in the Women's Singles SH6 category. In table tennis, Jehan Dorab Madan completed the medal sweep with a bronze in Men's Doubles MD4.

The four medals, spanning two different para-sports disciplines, represent exactly the kind of multi-sport haul state sports ministries point to when making the case for sustained grassroots investment in para-athletics.

The prize money breakdown: ₹2.05 crore in total

CM Vijay's announcement is precise and graded by medal colour. Naveen Sivakumar will receive ₹75 lakh for his gold. Thulasimathi Murugesan and Nithya Sre each get ₹50 lakh for their silvers. Jehan Dorab Madan is to receive ₹30 lakh for the bronze — bringing the combined state outlay to ₹2.05 crore.

The announcement frames the awards not merely as recognition but as 'incentive amounts' — the Tamil word ஊக்கத்தொகை (ukkath thogai) — a deliberate signal that the cheque is meant to propel future performance, not just honour past glory.

Tamil Nadu's track record of backing para sport

State governments across India have long supplemented central schemes for disability sports with their own reward structures, but Tamil Nadu has been among the more consistent practitioners of this policy. Graded prize-money slabs for Olympic, Asian Games, and para-event medallists have been a recurring feature of successive state administrations here, offering athletes a financial cushion that partly offsets the cost of high-performance training, travel, and equipment.

The Para Asian Games, held quadrennially under the Asian Paralympic Committee, serve as one of the most competitive proving grounds for athletes charting a course toward the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics — making performances here directly relevant to India's Paralympic medal pipeline.

What CM Vijay said — and why it matters

The post offers a pointed message to the broader para-sport community: that 'self-belief, perseverance, and hard work' produced these achievements, and that the state stands ready to reward ambition with resources. The explicit wish — that the athletes continue toward higher targets and 'bring glory to Tamil Nadu and India on the international stage' — doubles as a public commitment to watch their careers through future cycles.

For athletes who often train with fewer resources and less visibility than their able-bodied counterparts, a government post of this reach is itself a form of recognition that travels well beyond the prize money attached to it.

The cheques, if disbursed swiftly, could land before the athletes begin their build-up to the next major para-international calendar — which is precisely when the money is most useful.