A triumph both on and off the goalball court

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The team won the second place in the Indian Blind Sports Association’s 2nd Youth National Goalball Championship 2026, held in Gujarat.

Viewed at a surface level, the Tamil Nadu team’s great showing in the Indian Blind Sports Association’s “Second Youth National Goalball Championship 2026”, where it took the second place, is just another victory in a sporting arena. At a deeper level, this victory signals other victories.

For one, it is a victory for the Goalball Association of Tamil Nadu, a registered body just a year old, for its successful efforts to stitch together a team comprising visually impaired students from small towns and difficult economic backgrounds. Many of them look at sports as a ticket to a stable government job.

R. Barath, a final year student of Presidency College, grew up in a joint family in Erode. His single father and uncle are visually challenged. Just three months ago, he learnt about the sport from a friend and got selected to the state team. “There are many blind students like me at Presidency College, Queen Mary’s College and Nandanam Arts College. Conducting awareness sessions about this sport will encourage many more to join it and benefit they way I have,” he says

A short put and javelin thrower, Ahilendiran D from Madurai got to know about goalball from his coach. An orphan, Ahilendiran supports his family taking up part-time jobs. After this victory, he hopes they get to compete in recognised competitions and more people and organisations come forward to sponsor them as well. Rajasthan Youth Association Foundation sponsored them for the just-concluded event.

A judo coach for the blind, V. Maheswaran from Salem was roped in to coach the boys team noticing the interest he showed in the para sport. He picked up the sport watching videos online and with the help of his son. “We all are learning and getting better with every competition. When we had the selection camp in Chennai, we sought help from members of Telangana team,” says Maheswaran. Proud that three of his judo students have landed government jobs, he says, sports is not a level-playing field especially for those with disabilities and more organisations should come to empower students to take up sports.

For the national tournament, participants have to wear an eye patch but each costs more than ₹ 3,000, so we just tied a black cloth and played, he says.

Visually challenged G.R. Bharathi Raja, who started the Tamil Nadu Blind Football Association in 2019, is also coaching students in goalball. He says goalball is specially designed for those with vision problems and teaches players life skills, builds physical strength and helps with coordination.

The Association is looking at conducting more awareness workshops in schools and colleges about goalball. Their first workshop had 45 students participating in it.