New Delhi: IIT Delhi’s flagship inclusive inter-college sports meet, SANGAM 2026, organised for students with disabilities, has concluded successfully, marking a historic milestone for accessible sports in Indian higher education.
Organized by the Office of Accessible Education (OAE) under the Office of Diversity & Inclusion, SANGAM 2026 united around 300 students with disabilities from multiple IITs (IIT Delhi, IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Hyderabad), University of Delhi (DU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and various colleges in NCR.
India’s para-athlete, Mr. Sharad Kumar, a high jump silver medalist at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, was the chief guest at the closing ceremony.
Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Director of IIT Delhi, graced the opening ceremony and inaugurated SANGAM 2026.
Breaking Barriers Through Inclusive Sports
SANGAM 2026 moved beyond traditional participation, offering a high-stakes competitive platform for athletes with diverse disabilities. The event featured a rigorous classification system to ensure fair and spirited competition:
- Athletics: 100-meter sprints and field events across B1, B2, and B3 (visual impairment) categories.
- Badminton: Specialized categories for Upper Limb (UL), Lower Limb (LL), Hearing Impairment, and Wheelchair Users.
- Adaptive Sports: Blind Chess, Table Tennis, and both standard and Blind Cricket.
A New Benchmark for Gender & Diversity
A defining feature of SANGAM, the two-day event, was its commitment to Gender Inclusion. The cricket tournament notably featured inclusive teams, where all competed on the same squads—proving that athletic excellence transcends genders and disabilities.
Key Results and Institutional Achievements
The competition saw intense rivalry between the country’s premier technical and liberal arts institutions, with top honors distributed across several campuses:
- Cricket (Diverse Disabilities): IIT Kanpur emerged as the champions, with IIT Delhi securing the runner-up position.
- Blind Cricket: Ramjas College (DU) took the first-place trophy, followed by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in second.
- Chess: IIT Delhi claimed the top spot, defeating Hansraj College (DU) in a closely contested final.
- Blind Chess: The University of Delhi swept the podium, with Kirori Mal College in 1st, Ramjas College in 2nd, and Hindu College in 3rd.
- Table Tennis and Badminton: Outstanding performances were recorded by athletes from IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, IIT Roorkee, IIT Gandhinagar, and multiple University of Delhi colleges, reflecting the expanding talent pool in university-level participation.
- A Vision for the Future
“SANGAM 2026 has successfully fostered a unique collaboration between premier technical institutes and central universities, setting a new benchmark for inclusive campus life. By bringing together a “Sangam” (confluence) of diverse abilities, the event has established a blueprint for accessible sporting ecosystems in higher education,” Prof. Deepak Kumar, Dean of Diversity and Inclusion, IIT Delhi, said.
Moving forward, IIT Delhi aims to scale SANGAM into a truly pan-India platform, inviting an even broader group of institutions to join the movement for equity and excellence in sports.
