Army Chief General Manoj Pande on Friday felicitated medal winners and other sportspersons from the Indian Army for their excellent performance at the Asian Para Games in China.

At an event held at the Manekshaw Centre here, Gen Pande interacted with 17 players and their supporting staff who took part in the games in Hangzhou and displayed outstanding performance.

Eleven sportspersons from the Indian Army participated in the fourth Asian Para Games, of which seven emerged as medal winners. The medal tally includes -- one gold, four silver and two bronze, the Army said.

The Indian Army contingent improved their performance from the 3rd Para Asian Games held in Jakarta where they had won four medals (two Silver and two Bronze), the Army said.

The Para sportspersons of Indian Army mainly get trained at the Army Paralympic Node (APN), Kirkee. The APN was raised under the aegis of the erstwhile Directorate General of Military Training at Bombay Engineer Group and Centre (BEG), Kirkee on June 23, 2017, officials said.

In April 2022, APN was realigned under the Mission Olympics Wing (MOW). The prime objective of APN is to encourage the participation of serving impaired soldiers to excel in Paralympics sports.

The Indian Army signed an MoU with the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) on September 27, 2022 for furtherance of Para Sports and improving the training being imparted at the Army Paralympic Node so that it may become a Centre of Excellence at the national level, they said.

The sportspersons have been given better tournament exposure at national and international level. Further, the talent scouting in collaboration with local formation headquarters has helped in spotting new talent, the Army officials said.

Other avenues of infrastructure and funding supports like collaboration with the Sports Authority of India, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Corporate Social Responsibility have also been targeted for ensuring state-of-the-art infrastructure development and adequate administrative support, the Army said.

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