A Bishnupur district weaver-turned-athlete is about to become the first person from Manipur to represent India in a disability sport at the Commonwealth Games. Irengbam Ritu Chanu is part of the four-member Indian squad competing in the women’s 3×3 wheelchair basketball event at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, which opened on July 23 with competition running through August 2.

Chanu, who hails from Irengbam village at Nambol in Bishnupur, joins Reena Gupta and Laxmi Rayannavar of Maharashtra and Karnataka respectively, along with team captain Minakshi Jadhav, in a squad that qualified through the 2025 IWBF Asia-Oceania Championships in Bangkok. The qualification itself is a first for India: it marks the country’s maiden team-sport berth in a Para event at the Commonwealth Games, in a discipline where 3×3 wheelchair basketball is contested but the able-bodied 5×5 game is not on the Glasgow programme.

Chanu’s path to Glasgow began with a childhood accident. At six or seven years old, she was struck by a bus reversing in her village, an injury that led to her right leg being amputated above the knee. She now competes and gets around using a clutch. She has since completed her graduation and supports herself partly through weaving at home, alongside backing from the Manipur state government and her family. Her sporting career took shape at the Khuman Lampak Sports Complex in Imphal, where she trains, and she has represented the country at three National championships as well as last year’s qualifying tournament in Thailand.

The Wheelchair Basketball Association, Manipur (WBAM) said Chanu had faced financial constraints early in her career before its president, L. Dhaneshwor Singh, stepped in to support her participation. WBAM members, coaches and her family saw her off at Imphal International Airport earlier this month before she left for a national camp at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Training Centre for Disability Sports in Gwalior, ahead of the team’s departure for Scotland.

In Glasgow, India has been drawn in Pool B alongside Wales, Scotland and Nigeria. The Indian quartet opens its campaign against Wales on July 25, followed by matches against Scotland on July 26 and Nigeria on July 27, with the knockout rounds, including the semifinals and medal matches, scheduled for July 28 and 29. Wheelchair Basketball Federation of India president Varun Ahlawat said the team, having trained in Gwalior, was aiming for a medal in its first appearance at the Games.

For a state that has produced Olympic and Asian-level talent across boxing, weightlifting and football, Chanu’s selection opens a new front: Manipur’s first representative in Para sport on a Commonwealth stage, and a milestone WBAM has urged the state government to build on with greater support for para-athletes.