Haryana Thrower Sharmila Wins Historic Para Athletics Gold; How Much Money Will She Get?
Sharmila Para Athletics Gold: Rewari’s Sharmila ends a 20-year Indian wait for a Para Athletics Commonwealth Games medal, winning gold in Women’s Shot Put F57 at Glasgow 2026.
North Desk Correspondent
Chandigarh, July 28
Sharmila Dhankar has given India a landmark to remember. The 39-year-old para athlete from Rewari, Haryana, won gold in the Women’s Shot Put F57 at Glasgow 2026 with a season-best throw of 9.81m — ending a 20-year wait for an Indian medal in Para Athletics at the Commonwealth Games, and becoming the first Indian woman ever to win a Para Athletics medal at the Games.
Sharmila Para Athletics gold capped a remarkable turnaround. Sharmila finished 4th at Birmingham 2022, a result that would have discouraged many at her stage of a career that only began in 2020. Instead, she rebuilt her season by season under coach Tek Chand at her training base in Rewari, winning the National Championship title within a year of starting the sport and going on to become India’s national record holder and top-ranked athlete in the event.
Despite being home to just 2% of India’s population, Haryana has consistently produced roughly a third of India’s Commonwealth Games medallists. After Birmingham 2022, the state paid ₹1.5 crore for gold, ₹75 lakh for silver and ₹50 lakh for bronze, with an additional ₹7.5 lakh incentive for every participating athlete regardless of medal. Haryana’s 42 athletes at the 2022 Games brought home 20 of India’s 61 medals; Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar distributed a combined ₹25.8 crore to the state’s winners, along with government job offers.
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From a farming family
Sharmila Para Athletics Gold: Her path to this podium was shaped well before she picked up a shot put. Born into a farming family in Chhithroli, Haryana, Sharmila contracted polio at age two after a high fever.
She completed her schooling locally at SDM School, Chhithroli, and later navigated an early marriage marked by domestic hardship before rebuilding her life with her family’s support. She is now married to Ajit Singh, a businessman from Rewari, and the couple have two children — it was her husband who introduced her to competitive sport in 2020.
What followed was rapid and sustained: gold at the Indian Open every year from 2021 to 2026, gold at the National Championships across the same span, and international wins including the 17th Fazza International Para Athletics Championships in Dubai and the Summer Para Athletics Championships in Australia, both in 2026 — building the form that carried her to Glasgow.
Sharmila Para Athletics Gold: And Another first
Sharmila Para Athletics Gold: Glasgow added a second historic layer to the day. Shilpa Kanchugarakoppalu Shyla won bronze in the same event with a personal-best 7.26m, marking the first time India has won two medals in a single Para Athletics event at a Commonwealth Games.
Sharmila’s campaign was backed through India’s national sport support structure, including funding under the Annual Calendar for Training and Competition and assistance for international competitions and training camps in the build-up to these Games.
For Rewari and for Haryana’s sporting record, it’s a gold that stands apart — the state has produced Commonwealth Games medallists before, but never one in Para Athletics, and never one carrying a story quite like this.
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