Asian Para Games: Sumit Antil and an Act of Unexpected Kindness
The 2026 Asian Para Games were declared open on 18 October. India will once again witness the full glory of its para-athletes, months after some inspiring performances at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Every time a para-sporting event comes around, it highlights the incredible stories of athletes who faced tough circumstances and still found a way to achieve extraordinary things in sport.
My colleague Saurabh Kumar recently put together an article on some of the most inspiring stories to emerge from the Commonwealth Games 2026. Jhandu Kumar, who once sold vegetables and drove an e-rickshaw, won India’s first medal at the Games. Dilip Mahatu Gavit, who was penalized for his inability to work in the field, won gold in the men’s 100m T47 event.
But perhaps the most incredible story of all was that of a woman, Sharmila Dhankar.
Born in Haryana, Dhankar contracted polio at an early age. She married young and a few years later her life fell apart. Deprived of her dignity, she and her two daughters were thrown out of their home.
At one point, Dhankar contemplated suicide. But she refused to give up. She rebuilt her life, remarried and found her biggest supporter in her husband Ajit Singh. It was he who introduced her to sports, which she had never considered before.
Dhankar started to devote herself to para-athletics only at the age of 34. In 2026, at the age of 40, she won CWG gold in the women’s shot put F57.
Stories like this leave me stunned. But they also remind me of something that shouldn’t be so hard to understand. Para-athletes do not ask for special privileges. They want the opportunity to live with the same dignity and independence that able-bodied people often take for granted. A ramp instead of stairs. They can actually use the bathrooms. And the dignity of not being looked upon as becharis.
This last word was used by para-badminton player Manasi Joshi when he spoke to me two years ago about people’s perception of people with disabilities.
Sports achievements are extraordinary. The basic requirements of everyday life should not be.
But the Asian Para Games also bring another memory, from 2024. It wasn’t about a medal, a record or an athlete overcoming a physical barrier. It was about kindness.
India just returned from the Paris Paralympics with a record 29 medals. Athletics, shooting and badminton powered the campaign, with the contingent winning seven gold, nine silver and 13 bronze medals. The tally was almost five times India’s tally of six medals at the Paris Olympics.
Javelin thrower Sumit Antil and high jumper Nishad Kumar were at an Adidas event at Gurgaon’s Ambience Mall. Both were part of the brand’s You Got This campaign, which celebrated the determination athletes need to overcome adversity in and outside of sport.
After the usual brand presentation mediated by the PR team, the session was opened to questions from the audience. Several hands went up. The questions were quite routine, revolving around Sumit and Nishad’s matches and their journeys in the sport. Sumit Antil (centre) in action. (PTI photo)
Then, towards the end of the session, a young girl stood up. She wanted to talk to Sumit.
There was one problem. She struggled to get the words out and it was hard to understand what she was trying to say. Her coach, seemingly embarrassed by the situation, asked her to sit down.
It took us a while to understand that the girl had an intellectual disability, which made it difficult for her to express herself in a way that others could easily follow.
However, Sumit was not bothered.
He asked the organizers to bring the girl on stage. What followed was an engaging conversation that lasted about five minutes.
Among the several questions she asked him, one stood out. She told Sumit that she often felt insecure because she couldn’t speak properly. People, she explained, didn’t have the patience to listen to her thoughts.
Think about that for a moment. Here was a young girl who wanted to be heard, who had something to say but was struggling to get the words out. She was used to people losing patience with her. Even in a room full of people gathered to celebrate athletes who had overcome adversity, she needed someone willing to stop and listen. Paralympic champion and world record holder Sumit has done it.
He talked to her patiently and answered her questions in detail. Their conversation ranged from training and inspiration to life in general. He didn’t rush her or make her feel uncomfortable with her questions. He gave her the time and attention she was looking for.
It remains one of the most fascinating interviews I have ever seen. There was no complexity, no grand speech about overcoming adversity, no carefully crafted message of inclusion. Just a conversation between two people, one wanting to be heard and the other willing to listen.
Uncomplicated but full of life – perhaps it should be.
I am attaching an unedited clip from the video below for you to see.
I have thought about that interaction often since then. It was a small moment that could easily have gone unnoticed amid the excitement surrounding India’s record-breaking Paralympic campaign. But it stayed with me because Sumit’s reaction was uncomplicated.
He was a Paralympic champion, a man who had just returned from an extraordinary campaign and was celebrated for his achievements. The girl struggled to express herself in a room full of people. None of that mattered for those five minutes though. Sumit gave her his time because she wanted to talk to him.
We live in an era of sports superstars, where fame can sometimes distance athletes from the people who admire them. Fans are waiting for photos, autographs or a few seconds of their favorite athlete’s time. Some are turned away, sometimes because of real limitations and sometimes because the person they admire no longer seems to want to stop.
That makes Sumit’s gesture more meaningful. He didn’t need to talk about kindness. He just practiced it.
That day taught me to be kinder.
For all the talk of sporting greatness, records and medals, we sometimes forget that at the end of the day we are all only human. Some of us have had to fight harder than others to be heard, accepted, or find our place in the world. A little patience, a little empathy, and a willingness to listen can make a difference that we may never fully understand.
If we were kinder to each other, the world would undoubtedly be a better place. Courtesy: PTI
I will be watching Sumit Antil and Nishad Kumar again along with the rest of the Indian contingent as the Asian Para Games begin in Nagoya. I will be rooting for their performances. Once again, they will have my unwavering support, medals or no medals.
Because what these athletes give us is not only measured on the podium. Sometimes they leave us with something much more valuable: a reminder of the kind of people we can choose to be.
COMPLETE INDIAN SQUAD FOR ASIAN PARA GAMES
Blind soccer
1. Colors with Marbo
2. Klingon Marak
3. Pradeep Patel
4. Sahil
5. Shivam Singh
6. Sovendra Singh
7. Tushar Kumar
8. Visnubhateyuba Vaghela
9. Aditya Sajwan
10. Sujith Puthankattunikarath Sasi
Bowl
1. Sachin Chamaria
2. Anjali Devi
Para archery
1. Harvinder Singh
2. Vijay Sundi
3. Toman Kumar
4. Shyam Sunder Swami
5. Adil Muhammad Nazir Ansari
6. Breed Vinayak Amol
7. Sheetal Devi
8. Payal Nag
9. Bhawna
10. Pooja
11. Swati Chaudhary
Para athletics
1. Ajay Kumar
2. Akira Nandan Banothu
3. Devender Kumar
4. Haney
5. Dilip Mahadu Gavit
6. Mahendra Gurjar
7. Manjeet
8. Mohammed Basil Morssinganakathi
9. Nishad Kumar
10. Parveen
11. Pranav Soorma
12. Rakeshbhai Bhatt
13. Ram Ratan Singh
14. Rink
15. Sachin Sarjerao Khilari
16. Shailesh Kumar
17. Sharath Makanahalli Shankarappa
18. Summit
19.Ajeet Singh
20. Ayush Verma
21.Dharambir
22. Hokato Hotozhe Sema
23. Mohd Jasir
24. Navdeep
25. Parmod
26.Pranav Prashant Desai
27. Praveen Kumar
28. Rakesh
29. Ravi Rongali
30. Solaraj Dharmaraj
31. Sujith Mandalamkunnath Sivadasan
32. Varun Singh Bhati
33. You get dressed
34. Amit Kumar
35.Anubhav Choudhary
36. Banti
37. Bhavikkumar Dineshbhai Bharwad
38. Pardeep Kumar
39. Pradeep Kumar
40. Rahul
41. Sandeep
42. Sandeep Sanjay Sargar
43. Soman Rana
44. Suchchain
45. Parveen Kumar
46. Praveen Sharma
47. Anjanaben Rohitbhai Bumbadiya
48. Deepthi Jeevanji
49. Nimisha Chakkungalparambil Suresh
50. Preeti Pal
51. Simran
52. Soumya
53. Jayanti Behera
54. Tejalben Amraji Damor
55. Radha Venkatesh
56. Amisha Rawat
57. Bhagyashree Madhavrao Jadhav
58. Karamjyoti
59. Rakshitha Raju
60. Suchitra Parida
61. Suvarna Raj
62. Ravanni Valasanaini
For badminton
1. Manisha Ramadass
2. Nithya Sre Sumatha Sivan
3. Alphia James
4. Thulasimathi Murugesan
5. Mandeep Kaur
6. Neeraj
7. Shanthiya Vishwanathan
8. Kanak Singh Jadaun
9. Manasi Girishchandra Joshi
10. Pallavi Kaluvehalli Manjunathareddy
11. Sanjana Kumari
12. Naveen Sivakumar
13. Nitesh Kumar
14. Krishna Nagar
15. Pramod Bhagat
16. By rotating Kadam
17. Surya Kant Yadav
18. Ruthick Ragupathi
19.Sivarajan Solaimalai
20. Abu Hubaid
21. Prem Kumar But
22. Sudarsan Muthusamy Saravanakumar
23. Umesh Vikram Kumar
24. Haris Mythili Srikumar
25. Hardik Makkar
26. Abhijeet Sakhuja
27. Rakesh Pandey
28. Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj
For Cycling
1. Arshad Shaikh
For judo
1. Kapil Parmar
2. Bijender
3. Renuka Narayan Salve
4. Kokila
5. Gulshan
6. Vrushali Ashok More
7. Dimple
For Powerlifting
1. Ashok
2.Jhandu Kumar
3. Manish Kumar
4. Parmjeet Kumar
5. Suman Devi
6. Kasthuri Rajamani
7. Jaspreet Kaur
8. Seema Rani
For shooting
1. Anandha Krishnan H
2. Amir Ahmad Bhat
3. Manish Narwal
4. Nihal Singh
5. Rakesh Nidagundi
6. Rudransh Khandelwal
7. Swaroop Mahavir Unhalkar
8. Avani Lekhara
9. Mona Agarwal
10. Bhakti Sharma
11. Rubina Francis
12. Shrishti Arora
13. Sumedha Pathak
For Swimming
1. Kapil Kumar
2. Ajay Hindurao Bhosale
3. Ravi Veera Venkata Bhavani Budigina
4. Abdul Quadir Indori
5. Suyash Narayan Jadhav
6. Chaitanya Vishwas Kulkarni
7. Rohit Kumar
8. Gopichand Linguta
9. Vanga Niranjan Mukundan
10. Tejas Nandakumar
11. Himanshu Nandal
12. Swatik Patil
13. Mohammad Shams Aalam Shaikh
14. Jahangir Molla
15. Vaishnavi Vinod Jagtap
16. Devanshi Satija
Para table tennis
1. Bhavinaben Hasmukhbhai Patel
2. Sonalben Manubhai Patel
3. Child of Sahana Ravi
4. Ekta Bhayan
5. Prachi Pandey
6. Savita Vittal Ajjanakatti
7. Dattaprasad Jothiram Chougule
8. Sandeep Family
9. Jehan Dorab Madan
10. Shubham Wadhwa
– The end