Sumedha Pathak, a Varanasi para shooter from Manas Nagar in Durgakund, will represent India in air pistol at the Asian Para Games in Japan this month. Her family said on Sunday that she is finishing her preparation in New Delhi and is due to reach Japan on 14 October, a few days before the Games open.
The Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Para Games run from 18 to 24 October, according to the organising committee's official schedule. Para shooting is being held at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery in Toyota City on 19 and 20 October and again from 22 to 24 October. The 10m air pistol events are on 20 October.
Sumedha is training under coach J.P. Nautiyal at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in Tughlakabad, New Delhi, the national venue first built for the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi and still used by India's leading shooters to prepare for international events. Her father, Brijesh Pathak, said the aim in Japan is a medal in air pistol. She will travel as part of India's para shooting contingent.
The selection follows a strong September. Last month she won silver in the 10m pistol event at a competition in Korea, her family said, adding to a record that now runs to 19 medals along with several awards. The medal count and the awards are as listed by the family.
Much of that work began at home. During the Covid lockdown, when ranges were shut and travel stopped, her father set up a shooting range inside the house so that she would not lose her practice. Sumedha has practised there regularly since, according to the family.
For young shooters, and for para athletes in particular, that kind of family support can decide whether training continues at all. Air pistol needs controlled conditions, approved equipment and long hours of dry firing and live practice, and access to a proper range is one of the first hurdles for young shooters outside the big metros.
Para shooting at the Asian level is divided into classes based on the kind of impairment an athlete has, with separate events for pistol and rifle and for different standing and seated categories. The 10m air pistol is the event in which shooters fire at a target 10 metres away, with scores counted to a decimal point in finals. Her exact classification has not been stated in the details shared by the family.
The Aichi-Nagoya Para Games follow the Asian Games held in the same Japanese region, which closed on 4 October. At the previous edition of the Asian Para Games, held in Hangzhou, China, in October 2023, India won 111 medals, its best haul at the event, and shooting was among the sports that contributed to that tally.
The Games come in the middle of Varanasi's festival season. Sharadiya Navratri begins on 11 October and Vijayadashami falls on 20 October, the same day as the air pistol events in Toyota City. Her journey to Japan therefore falls in the middle of Navratri.
Durgakund, where the family lives, is in the southern part of the city and takes its name from the Durga temple and its kund. Young people from Varanasi who are making a mark in their fields were the subject of the Dalimss 20 Under 40 Varanasi 2026 list of young people making a mark from the city.
Disability and inclusion have come up in other recent Varanasi stories too. Late last month, a national workshop at the paediatrics department of BHU's Institute of Medical Sciences, reported in our coverage of the ISAA autism assessment training, stressed early identification and more trained staff for children on the autism spectrum. Sports pathways for athletes with disabilities are a separate question, but they depend on the same mix of family effort and institutional backing.
Sumedha's route to Toyota City has run from a makeshift range at home in Manas Nagar to the national range in Tughlakabad. On 20 October, as Varanasi marks Dussehra, the 10m air pistol events are due to be shot in Toyota City, more than 5,000 km from the range her father built at home.
