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Shubham Juyal, who clinched silver in the men's F57 sitting shot put at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, acknowledged cricket's immense popularity but said he hopes Indians will extend the same support to athletes across all sports.
Shubham Juyal, a Lance Naik in the Indian Army, received a grand welcome from residents upon returning to his hometown of Roorkee in Haridwar district with his Commonwealth Games silver medal. Speaking to ANI, Juyal said he hopes Indians will support all sports as passionately as they support cricket. He expressed pride in bringing recognition to his hometown of Roorkee through para-athletics, saying he was happy to contribute to the city's sporting legacy. Juyal also shared that while he met Neeraj Chopra at the Commonwealth Games, he hopes to meet fellow Roorkee native Rishabh Pant someday. "I'm very happy because in India, cricket is given a lot of importance. I'm not saying that cricket shouldn't be given importance, but I feel that Indian people should support all sports equally. And the name of Roorkee has been highlighted again because of the medal in para-athletics this time. I'm very happy that I could do something for my city. And I hope that I will continue to do so in the future and make Roorkee proud. Rishabh Pant is also from Roorkee. I've never met him, but I got the chance to meet Neeraj Chopra at the Commonwealth Games this time. So I'm very happy. Hopefully, I will meet Rishabh Pant as well some day," Pant said. Juyal credited his success to the support of the Indian Army, his family and friends. He also expressed delight at Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulating him on social media after his achievement. Juyal is scheduled to meet Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami later today and PM Modi on August 9. "Prime Minister Modi is very interested in sports. And he has increased the budget for Khelo India. And the day I won the medal, he also tweeted congratulating me. So I'm very happy. Secondly, I have a meeting scheduled with Dhami Ji this evening in Dehradun. So I'm very happy to have the opportunity to meet everyone. After that, there's a meeting scheduled with PM Modi. And after that, there's also a program to meet the Army Chief. So I'm very happy to have the chance to meet everyone. Because such moments come very rarely in life when you get to meet everyone like this. And after an achievement, it's even more joyful to get the chance to meet everyone, talk, and get their blessings," he said. Juyal said his ultimate goal is to win a medal for India at the LA 2028 Paralympics and that he aims to deliver strong performances in every competition leading up to the Games. "My ultimate aim is to win a medal for India at the Los Angeles Paralympics. And I'll perform my best in other events that come in between so that there are even better results for India in LA 2028," he said. (ANI)
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