Irengbam Ritu Chanu of Irengbam village, Nambol, in Bishnupur district is set to become the first athlete from Manipur to represent India in a disability sport at the Commonwealth Games. She has been named in India’s four-woman squad for 3×3 wheelchair basketball at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, running July 23 to August 2 — the first time India has fielded a women’s team in the event.

Chanu joins Minakshi Jadhav and Reena Gupta of Maharashtra and Laxmi Rayannavar of Karnataka in the squad. The team is competing in 3×3 wheelchair basketball’s Commonwealth Games debut, a format making its first appearance at the Games in Glasgow.

Chanu’s path to international sport began with a childhood accident. At age seven, she was struck by a reversing bus, an injury that led to the amputation of her right leg above the knee. She has used a crutch since. Her selection for Glasgow marks a milestone for para-sport in Manipur, a state with a strong track record in able-bodied athletics and combat sports but comparatively little representation on the international para-sport stage.

India’s 3×3 wheelchair basketball squad will be aiming to make an impact in its first outing at this level, against established programmes from countries with longer histories in the sport. For Manipur, Chanu’s selection alone is being read locally as a marker of how far grassroots para-sport development has come in the state.