Modi Hails Landmark Year for Indian Women’s and Para-Sport in Year-End Address

Overview

• In his Mann Ki Baat broadcast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the women’s ODI World Cup win and the women’s blind T20 World Cup, while lauding para-athletes for a strong year.
• India’s women won their first ICC Women’s World Cup on November 2, defeating South Africa by 52 runs at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium with decisive contributions from Shafali Verma and Deepti Sharma.
• The Indian women’s blind cricket team captured the inaugural Women’s Blind T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka, with reports differing on whether the final was won against Nepal or Sri Lanka.
• India hosted the World Para Athletics Championships in New Delhi from September 26 to October 5 and recorded 22 medals, including six gold, nine silver, and seven bronze.
• Year-end roundups highlighted Divya Deshmukh’s win over Koneru Humpy in an all-Indian FIDE Women’s Chess World Cup final, seven women’s golds at the World Boxing Cup in Noida, a kabaddi world title over Chinese Taipei, women’s football qualification for the 2026 Asian Cup, and para-archer Sheetal Devi’s selection for an able-bodied junior team.