Asian Games kabaddi gold medallist Ritu Negi’s name dropped from Himachal’s award list

A controversy has erupted after the name of Ritu Negi, an Arjuna Awardee, former captain of the Indian kabaddi team and a member of the squad that recently won gold at the Asian Games in Japan was dropped from the list of cash award recipients released by the Himachal Pradesh government.

On October 5, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had announced prize money of Rs 1 crore for three Himachal players in the Indian women’s kabaddi team, Pushpa Rana, Jyoti Thakur and Bhawna Thakur, who bagged the top honours in Aichi-Nagoya.

Ritu described the government’s move as deeply insulting.

“Until a week ago, I was a daughter of Himachal and the CM shared a congratulatory message on Facebook, while former CM Jairam Thakur and Member of Parliament Anurag Thakur had called to congratulate me.

I simply cannot understand what changed so suddenly two days ago,” she said in the statement.

ALSO READ: Kabaddi royalty: India rules Asia once more

She questioned why such treatment was being meted out to an athlete who has represented the country in three consecutive Asian Games and won two gold medals and one silver. She pointed out that although she is employed by Indian Railways, she has consistently represented Himachal and not Haryana in domestic competitions.

“Why Himachal Pradesh is behaving in such a way at this stage of my career?” she asked.

Ritu’s father, Bhavan Singh Negi, pointed out that Ritu had received a cash award from the Himachal government after winning gold at the 2023 Asian Games, despite being married in Haryana.

Himachal’s Sports Minister, Yadvinder Goma, said that he was unaware of the reason behind the change in the list of Himachal athletes receiving cash awards and added that he would review the file and discuss the matter with the Chief Minister.