MannKiBaat: PM Modi lauds Khelo India Para athletes, reads out gold medalist Joby Mathew’s letter

NEW DELHI: In the 120th Episode of Mann Ki Baat on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the winners of the recently concluded 2025 edition of the Khelo India Para Games.

The second edition of the Khelo India Para Games came to a close on Thursday with Haryana once again finishing on top of the team standings with 34 gold medals. Tamil Nadu (28 golds) and Uttar Pradesh (23 golds) finished second and third, respectively in the overall standings.

Eighteen national records were created in KIPG 2025 with Jaspreet Kaur (Punjab), Manish Kumar (Haryana), Seema Rani (Punjab), and Jhandu Kumar (Bihar) winning gold medals in Para Powerlifting.

“In the Khelo India Para Games that concluded a few days ago, the players surprised everyone with their dedication and talent, once again. This time more players participated in these games than earlier. This shows how popular Para Sports is becoming. I congratulate all the players participating in the Khelo India Para Games for their sterling efforts,” PM Modi said during the Mann Ki Baat.

Further, PM Modi went on to give his best wishes to the players Haryana, Tamil Nadu and UP who seured the top three spots in the competition.

“My best wishes for the players of Haryana, Tamil Nadu and UP for securing the first, second and third positions, respectively. During these games, our Divyang players also set 18 national records. Out of which 12 were in the name of our women players,” PM Modi said.

PM Modi also spoke about the letter he received from Arm wrestler Joby Mathew who won won gold in the 65kg category in the Khelo India Para Games 2025. This was an improvement from his performance in the first edition, where he won silver in the 59kg category.

“Arm wrestler Joby Mathew, who won a Gold Medal in this year’s Khelo India Para Games has written a letter to me. I would like to read out an excerpt of his letter. He has written -Winning a medal is very special, but our struggle is not limited to just standing on the podium. We fight a battle every day. Life tests us in many ways… very few people understand our struggle. Despite this, we move forward with courage. We work towards fulfilling our dreams. We believe that we are no less than anyone else,” PM Modi said.

“Great! Joby Mathew, you have written an amazing, wonderful letter. I thank you for this letter. I want to tell Joby Mathew and all our Divyang friends that your efforts are a great inspiration for us,” PM Modi added.

PM Modi said about the Fit India Carnival, “Friends, another grand event in Delhi has inspired people a lot; filled them with enthusiasm. Fit India Carnival was organized for the first time as an innovative idea. About 25 thousand people from different fields participated in it. All of them had the same goal – to stay fit and spread awareness about fitness.”

He further continued, “People involved in this event got information related to their health as well as nutrition. I urge you to organize such carnivals in your area as well. MY-Bharat can be of great help to you in this initiative.”

In the end, PM Modi spoke about traditional Martial Arts where he said, “Our traditional Martial Arts like Kalaripayattu, Gatka and Thang-Ta have been included in it. I congratulate Hanumankind that due to his efforts people of the world are getting to know about our traditional Martial Arts.” (ANI)