Himachal gave its kabaddi gold medallists Rs 33 lakh each, and after they met the Chief Minister it is now Rs 1 crore
Pushpa Rana, Jyoti Thakur and Bhawna Thakur will get Rs 1 crore each and government jobs, a week after a team-event formula left them with a third of that.
Oct 5, 2026
A week ago Himachal Pradesh gave each of its four women’s kabaddi gold medallists ₹33.33 lakh. On Monday, after three of them went to see him, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu raised it to ₹1 crore each for Pushpa Rana, Jyoti Thakur and Bhawna Thakur, and offered all three government jobs.
The announcement was made in Shimla on 5 October, where Sukhu presented the players with Himachali caps and shawls. The state says a felicitation ceremony will follow soon, and the money will be handed over there.
Why the first award fell short
The original figure came out of the cash awards Sukhu announced on 28 September, worth ₹5.33 crore in all for Himachal’s Asian Games medallists. Sawan Barwal, from Mandi, got ₹2.50 crore for his silver in the men’s marathon. Seema Kumari, from Chamba, got ₹1.50 crore for bronze in the women’s 10,000m.
The four kabaddi players, Pushpa Rana, Ritu Negi, Jyoti Thakur and Bhavna Thakur, shared ₹1.33 crore between them. The state’s rules pay ₹4 crore for an Asian Games gold, but in a team event the award is divided in proportion to the players taking part. Split twelve ways for a kabaddi squad, ₹4 crore comes to ₹33.33 lakh a head, so the four Himachalis took four shares of it, and an athlete who won bronze on her own was given more than four gold medallists put together.
The players did not hide how that felt. “We were not being given the amount that was due to us,” Rana said. Jyoti Thakur said the first award “had left us disappointed”.
What changes now
The new figure is three times what they were first given. Rana said the meeting had gone well and that she was hopeful the promised ₹1 crore “will definitely be given”.
The jobs come with a choice. Players who do not want to join the police can take a post in the Youth Services and Sports Department instead, so they can keep playing. India fast bowler Renuka Thakur, also from Himachal, will get ₹1 crore from the state as well.
Reports of Monday’s announcement name only three players. Ritu Negi, who captained India to gold in Hangzhou and was on the 28 September list, is not among them, and the state has not said whether her award changes too.
The gold they were paid for
Rana captained the side in Aichi. India beat Iran 37-34 in the final at the Tokai Citizens Gymnasium on 26 September, for a fourth women’s kabaddi title in the five tournaments held at the Asian Games. The only one India have not won was Jakarta in 2018, when Iran beat them in the final.
Rana spent part of her time after that final asking for more for the women’s game, saying it “should get the same platform that the boys have got for Pro Kabaddi”. On Monday she and her team-mates got something closer to what they think they earned.