This week, India’s athletes are competing at the Asian Para Games in Japan. Few Indian teams arrive at a major event with a stronger recent record, and few receive so little commercial attention. That’s the paradox at the heart of para sport in India: it keeps delivering medals and some of sport’s most powerful stories, yet sponsorship has barely caught up.

What’s happening this week

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has cleared a 281-member contingent, including 168 athletes, for the 5th Asian Para Games 2026 in Japan. Of the 168 athletes, 112 are men and 56 are women, competing across 11 disciplines, with Paralympic champions Pramod Bhagat and Bhavina Patel as flag bearers at the opening ceremony. 

The squad is smaller than last time. That’s owing to the absence of disciplines such as blind chess, para-rowing and para-canoeing, in which India fielded athletes last time, as well as strict quota restrictions in many sports. But the expectations are high. At Hangzhou, India had its best-ever Asian Para Games campaign, winning 111 medals, including 29 gold, 31 silver and 51 bronze. 

And the pattern goes beyond Asia. At the Paris 2024 Paralympics, India had its best-ever Games, with 29 medals.

The brand that’s already in

One company has made a clear bet. SBI Life Insurance strengthened its partnership with the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), becoming the Principal Partner of the Indian contingent for the 2026 para sports season, and acting as the Official Life Insurance Partner for the Indian contingent at the Commonwealth Para Games 2026 in Glasgow and the Asian Para Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya. 

It isn’t a one-off, either. The deal builds on the insurer’s association with India’s para athletes at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. 

In our view, that continuity is exactly what makes the partnership worth noticing. SBI Life didn’t arrive after a medal rush; it stayed from one Games cycle into the next, across multiple events in a single season. It’s also a natural fit: a life insurer built around confidence and long-term planning, backing athletes whose careers depend on exactly that.