Noida, 1 November: Indian medallists from the Asian Para Games 2026 were given cash awards at the prize ceremony of the Noida Sports Talent Hunt (Edition 2) at Prometheus School, Sector 131, on Sunday.
The talent hunt is run by Gauri Shiksha Foundation and Prometheus Sports Academy. The organisers gave Rs 1,00,000 to each gold medallist, Rs 75,000 to each silver medallist and Rs 50,000 to each bronze medallist.
Athletes honoured
According to the organisers, the athletes felicitated included:
- Praveen Kumar, men’s high jump T64, gold
- Simran Sharma, women’s 100m and 200m T12, two golds
- Preeti Pal, women’s 100m and 200m T35, two silvers
- Swati Chaudhary, para archery women’s W1, silver
- Varun Singh Bhati, men’s high jump T63, silver
- Ajeet Singh, men’s javelin throw F46, silver
- Ashok Malik, para powerlifting men’s up to 65kg, silver
- Bhawna Choudhary, para archery recurve women’s doubles, silver
- Surya Kant Yadav, para badminton men’s doubles SL3-SU5, bronze
- Nitesh Kumar, para badminton
Focus on young athletes
Mukesh Sharma, founder chairperson of Prometheus School and founder trustee of Gauri Shiksha Foundation, spoke about the academy’s facilities, which include eight indoor badminton courts, a 15-table table tennis hall, an Olympic-size swimming pool, shooting ranges and gymnastics facilities.
He said children needed to be introduced to competitive sport early and urged parents to encourage them to take up at least one sport. He also praised the work of Olympic Gold Quest in supporting Indian athletes.
The organisers said the talent hunt is meant to identify young athletes in Noida and offer them scholarships, coaching and a path into competitive sport.
