Ludhiana's Shubham Wadhwa wins gold at national championship

Shubham Wadhwa, a para table tennis player from Ludhiana, recently achieved remarkable success at the UTT 2nd Para Table Tennis National Ranking Championship 2024-25. The tournament took place in Vadodara from March 21 to 23. Shubham won two gold medals in the mixed doubles and men’s doubles events. He partnered with Ekta Bhyan from Haryana for the mixed doubles and JD Madan from Tamil Nadu for the men’s doubles. He also earned a bronze medal in the singles category. Earlier this month, he competed in the ITTF World Para Future Costa Brava Spanish Open, where he won a silver medal in men’s doubles. During the national championship, he faced tough competition, defeating Hungary and France both by 3-2 scores in the quarterfinals and semifinals. However, in the final, he fell short and secured a silver medal after a 0-3 loss. Shubham has a strong track record in para table tennis. He won gold in the men’s singles Class-3 category at a previous national championship and has multiple gold medals from various events throughout 2023. His achievements are particularly inspiring considering he overcame serious challenges following a road accident in 2016 that caused a spinal injury. Now a Computer Science engineering student in Jalandhar, Shubham has been training at the Sports Authority of India in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. His journey in sports began as a way to aid his recovery, and he has since developed a passion for table tennis, winning his first national gold medal in 2022.