PM Modi meets India's Commonwealth Games 2026 medallists, praises athletes and urges national support
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday met India's Commonwealth Games 2026 medallists at his official residence and congratulated them for their performances at the Glasgow Games. He interacted with the athletes, praised their hard work and commitment, and urged the nation to continue supporting competitors across sporting disciplines.
Modi stressed the need to build a sporting culture that encourages youth participation and repeated a recurring slogan, "Jo Khelega Woh Khilega." After the meeting he released a video message quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying "Jo Khelega, Vo Khilega" (The one who plays will shine), Always Cheer for Bharat." He also posted on Instagram: "Those who play, will flourish. Always cheer for Bharat. Bharat Mata Ki Jai!"
Sakshi Choudhary, described in the meeting notes as one of India's boxing gold medallists, said the interaction with the prime minister left the athletes proud and delighted. "We, all the Commonwealth Games medallists, were invited by our honourable Prime Minister. We feel extremely proud, and it was a wonderful experience meeting him. He is very humble, and we were very happy to meet him." she said.
Boxing emerged as India's leading medal source at the Games, with the contingent winning 10 medals including seven golds. The campaign represented India's best-ever boxing performance at a Commonwealth Games, and Indian women claimed five of the seven gold medals in the sport.
Judo produced a landmark result as Asmita Dey and Harsh Singh each won gold, giving India two judo golds at the same edition of the Commonwealth Games for the first time, and India finished with four medals in the sport. Weightlifting contributed eight medals overall, with Mirabai Chanu adding a gold that the report describes as her third consecutive Commonwealth Games title.
In athletics, Gulveer Singh won silver in the 10,000m and bronze in the 5,000m, becoming the first Indian track-and-field athlete to win two medals at the same Commonwealth Games. India’s para athletes secured seven medals in total; Sharmila Dhankar won India's first Commonwealth Games gold in para athletics in the women's F57 shot put and Dilip Mahadu Gavit took gold in the men's 100m T47 event.
India finished fourth at the Commonwealth Games despite competing without several of its traditional medal-winning disciplines. The delegation's results, the prime minister's meeting and his call for broader support were presented in the source material as evidence of growing depth in sports that may have a bigger role to play in India's future Commonwealth Games campaigns.