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Indian javelin para-athlete Navdeep Singh has credited the training facilities and dedicated access to the main track at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Jawaharlal Nehru (JLN) Stadium for helping him prepare for the Asian Para Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, where he won bronze in the men's javelin throw F40/F41 event.
India finished 4th at the Asian Para Games 2026 with 114 medals (30 Gold, 35 Silver, 49 Bronze) the countrys best-ever show in the continental competition, with Para Athletics athletes bagging 65 medals (22 Gold, 19 Silver, 24 Bronze) alone. Navdeep, on Friday, won bronze in the mens javelin throw F40/F41 at the Asian Para Games 2026; an improvement on his fourth-place finish at the 2022 edition. Besides him, a plethora of Asian Para Games medalists including Simran Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Sandeep Kumar, Pranav Soorma, Rinku Hooda, Manjeet, Nimisha Chakkungalparambil, Varun Singh Bhati, Preeti Pal, Ajeet Singh Yadav, Sandip Sanjay Sargar, Navdeep Singh, Anubhav Choudhary, trained at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) JLN Stadium facility ahead of Aichi-Nagoya. Most of us Asian Games-bound athletes, including me, did our preparations at the JLN Stadium for the Asian Games 2026, said Navdeep, post his medal win. This allowed us to acclimatise and get the feel. Despite the ongoing [Indian Super League] football matches, they kept the Asian Games a priority, which I felt was quite impressive, and that supported me, he added. The Paris Paralympics gold medalist also highlighted how dedicated access to the main track at the JLN Stadium benefited athletes across disciplines. Sprinters need an empty track, so they got a good chance to train inside it. I majorly train at the SAI Regional Centres [Bengaluru, Sonipat and Gandhinagar], where there is not much crowd, and I dont have to wait for other athletes to finish their throws. This all happened here at the JLN Stadium too. I could focus on my preparations rather than focusing on rotations and waiting for my turn, Navdeep said, expressing hopes of returning to the JLN Stadium for the next season. Para-athletes who were training at the JLN Stadium, New Delhi, delivered a strong medal-winning performance at the Asian Para Games 2026, securing four gold, five silver and four bronze medals across track and field events. The gold medallists were Praveen Kumar in mens high jump T64, Sandeep Kumar in the mens 400m T64, where he set a world record, Pranav Soorma in mens club throw F51, Rinku Hooda in mens javelin throw F46, and Simran Sharma, who won gold in both the womens 100m and 200m T12, setting Games records in both events. The silver medallists included Manjeet in mens javelin F12/F13, Nimisha Chakkungalparambil in womens long jump T47, Varun Singh Bhati in mens high jump T63, Preeti Pal in the womens 100m and 200m T35, and Ajeet Singh Yadav in mens javelin F46. The bronze medallists were Sandeep Kumar in the mens 100m T44, Sandip Sanjay Sargar in the mens javelin combined classification event, Navdeep Singh in mens javelin F40/F41, and Anubhav Choudhary in the mens 100m T35. Other than these medalists, more than 50 para-athletes train at the SAI JLN Stadium. (ANI)
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