Two-day meet brings together athletes from IITs, colleges

SANGAM 2026, IIT-Delhi’s flagship inclusive inter-college sports meet, concluded today after two days of high energy, determination and record participation by students with disabilities.

Organised by the Office of Accessible Education (OAE) under the Office of Diversity & Inclusion, the meet brought together around 300 student athletes with disabilities from some of the country’s leading institutions.

Participants represented IIT-Delhi, IIT-Gandhinagar, IIT-Madras, IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Roorkee, IIT-Kharagpur and IIT-Hyderabad, along with students from the University of Delhi (DU), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and several colleges across the NCR.

Prof Rangan Banerjee, Director, IIT-Delhi, inaugurated the event, setting the tone for an event focused on equity, access and excellence. The closing ceremony was graced by India’s celebrated para-athlete Sharad Kumar, silver medallist in high jump at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, whose presence inspired athletes and spectators alike.

More than just a sporting event, the meet was designed as a serious competitive platform, with a structured classification system to ensure fair play. Athletics events included 100m sprints and field competitions across B1, B2 and B3 visual impairment categories. Badminton featured specialised divisions for upper limb, lower limb, hearing impaired and wheelchair users, while adaptive sports such as blind chess, table tennis, blind cricket and standard cricket added to the diverse sporting programme.

One of the most talked about aspects of the two-day meet was its strong emphasis on gender inclusion. The cricket tournament stood out for fielding inclusive teams, where all competed together on the same squads sending a powerful message that talent and teamwork rise above gender and disability.

The competition delivered intense action and memorable performances. IIT-Kanpur clinched the cricket title in the diverse disabilities category, with IIT-Delhi finishing runners up. In blind cricket, Ramjas College (DU) emerged champions, followed by JNU. IIT-Delhi claimed top honours in chess, defeating Hansraj College (DU) in a closely fought final. Blind chess saw a clean sweep by DU colleges, with Kirori Mal College taking first place, Ramjas College second and Hindu College third. Athletes from IIT-Madras, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Roorkee, IIT-Gandhinagar and several DU colleges also impressed in table tennis and badminton events.

Summing up the spirit of the event, Prof Deepak Kumar, Dean of Diversity and Inclusion, IIT-Delhi, said, “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.”

With its growing scale and impact, IIT-Delhi now plans to take SANGAM forward as a pan-India inclusive sports platform, inviting more institutions to join a movement that champions accessibility, dignity and excellence both on and off the field.