One hundred and fourteen medals from 168 athletes at the Asian Para Games. The strike rate nearly doubled. Four Paralympic medallists were not on the plane. Both things happened, and together they ask a sharper question than either does alone.
India finished fourth at the 5th Asian Para Games in Aichi-Nagoya with thirty gold, thirty-five silver and forty-nine bronze. The Paralympic Committee of India had set a target of 90 to 100. The team beat the top of that range by fourteen.
But the medal count is the easy part. India sent 168 athletes to Japan and roughly 303 to China three years earlier — a cut of about 45%. Divide the medals by the athletes and the conversion rate rose from 0.37 to 0.68, an improvement of about 85%.
Then set that against what India’s para-athletics head coach said on the record before the Games: “The one who has all the talent is not going to the team. Four Olympic medallists are not going.”
An auction in Pune on 4 November, a sport that turns a football pitch into a stadium circuit in five days, and three seasons without a published franchise fee.
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Every target city drew bids above USD 500 million. The clubs still refused. The argument is about control — and it is the argument India has never had.
Read the full story — 8 min →A INR 53.58 crore all-weather rink at Leh’s NDS Stadium has taken ice hockey from three winter months to year-round. Ladakh’s policy adds 4% job reservation and a published payment schedule — the only credible winter sports economy in India, built by a UT and a CSR arm, not a federation.
India takes the inaugural ICC Women’s Champions Trophy off Sri Lanka: 14–28 February 2027, Mumbai and Vadodara, six teams, T20I. Prize money and broadcast unannounced. A two-venue, two-week event built for a broadcast window, not for expansion.
Tamil Nadu has committed about INR 2.2 crore across six Asian Para Games medallists, INR 30 lakh each to para table tennis players Baby Sahana Ravi and Jehan Madan. It pays para medallists the same headline rate as able-bodied ones — rare, and still a cash award rather than infrastructure.
Anahat Singh, 18, and Abhay Singh both reached Asian Games singles finals; Tamil Nadu paid out INR 50 lakh and INR 30 lakh. SAI is inducting squash players into TOPS on the basis of LA 2028. Olympic inclusion is the biggest lever in Indian sports funding — bigger than any league.
Doosra, released 23 October, builds a fiction around Ganguly’s 2002 shirt-waving at Lord’s. He has no stated role — not investor, not ambassador — and has objected to its use. A cricket moment is now worth a feature film, with nothing accruing to the player.
Nike’s Q1 FY2027 revenue fell about 4% to USD 11,200m, with Greater China down 26%. Two weeks later it announced a global campus in Bengaluru. India’s leverage in sportswear is highest exactly when the incumbent’s biggest growth market collapses.
CVC paid USD 150m for 20% of the WTA’s commercial arm in 2023. The tour now projects a USD 23m loss for 2026 and ends the year with USD 15m in cash. A minority stake is a five-year cash drip, not a fix for a loss-making calendar.
Eight Indians entered the USD 950,000 Super 750 in Paris. Teenagers Ashmita Chaliha and Tanvi Sharma both reached the round of 16 on day one. A pipeline, not a star system — though the commercial value still sits with two names.
Valencia Basket owner Juan Roig paid for Roig Arena himself, and says clubs with arenas like it “wouldn’t even need to play in the NBA.” India’s leagues argue about broadcast rights while owning no venues. The building is what turns a fee into an asset.
The NBA’s season opened on 20 October with a record 115 primetime games across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, plus Paris and a first Manchester game. We could not find any India-specific programming in the same cycle.
The business and machinery of Indian sport. Every Saturday, 7pm IST. Every number links to its source.
