Anurag Thakur Hails India's CWG 2026 Triple Jump Double Podium
Synopsis
BJP MP Anurag Thakur celebrated India's rare double podium in Men's Triple Jump at CWG 2026, congratulating Selva Prabhu Thirumaran for bronze and Praveen for silver, calling the achievement a source of national pride.
Key Takeaways
Selva Prabhu Thirumaran won the bronze medal in Men's Triple Jump at the 2026 Commonwealth Games .
Praveen secured the silver medal in the same event, giving India a rare double podium in a single field discipline.
BJP MP Anurag Thakur , former Union Minister for Sports, publicly congratulated both athletes on 1 August 2026 .
India's athletics contingent has shown incremental improvement in field events across recent Commonwealth Games editions.
The Khelo India initiative, launched in 2017 , has been a key policy driver for identifying and supporting emerging track-and-field talent.
India's triple jump pair delivered a moment the country will savour — a bronze and a silver on the same day, on the same runway, at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. BJP MP Anurag Thakur, former Union Minister for Sports, took to X on Saturday, 1 August 2026 to celebrate the feat, calling it a source of 'great joy and pride' for the entire nation.
Two names, one podium story
Selva Prabhu Thirumaran claimed the bronze medal in the Men's Triple Jump, completing a remarkable Indian double alongside Praveen, who had earlier secured the silver in the same event. Thakur's post framed it as a 'Double Victory in Triple Jump' — a neat encapsulation of an afternoon that sent two Indian athletes onto the CWG podium in a single discipline. Field events have historically been thin ground for Indian medals at the Commonwealth Games, making a simultaneous silver-and-bronze finish in the triple jump a notable step forward. The athletics contingent has shown incremental improvement across recent editions of the Games, and a double podium in one event signals a deepening of the talent pool rather than a solitary outlier.Khelo India's long game paying off
The backdrop to moments like these is the Khelo India initiative, launched in 2017, which was designed precisely to identify and pipeline emerging athletes across disciplines — including track and field. Thakur himself oversaw the Sports Ministry during a period when athlete support infrastructure and competitive exposure were scaled up. His congratulatory post carries that institutional context, even if it reads as a personal salute. India's sports community and fans now watch the remainder of the CWG 2026 athletics programme to see whether this double podium is the headline of the Games or the opening act of something bigger.Point of View
Not luck. Anurag Thakur's congratulatory post is also a quiet reminder of his own ministerial tenure, linking the Khelo India framework to tangible medal outcomes on an international stage. For India's athletics programme, a silver-and-bronze finish in the triple jump at a Commonwealth Games is a credibility marker that could translate into increased institutional attention for field events. The political optics are straightforward: ruling-party figures associating themselves with sporting success is a well-worn playbook, but the achievement itself is genuine and merits recognition on its own terms.
NationPress
1 Aug 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Selva Prabhu Thirumaran?
Selva Prabhu Thirumaran is an Indian athlete who won the bronze medal in the Men's Triple Jump at the 2026 Commonwealth Games .
What did India win in triple jump at CWG 2026?
India won a silver medal (Praveen) and a bronze medal (Selva Prabhu Thirumaran) in the Men's Triple Jump at CWG 2026 , completing a rare double podium in a single field event.
What is the Khelo India initiative?
Khelo India is a government sports development programme launched in 2017 to identify and support emerging athletes across disciplines, including athletics and field events.
Why did Anurag Thakur congratulate the CWG 2026 triple jump athletes?
BJP MP Anurag Thakur , a former Union Minister for Sports, congratulated Selva Prabhu Thirumaran and Praveen on their CWG 2026 medals, describing the double podium as a source of 'great joy and pride' for India.
When did India win the triple jump medals at CWG 2026?
Anurag Thakur posted his congratulations on 1 August 2026 , the day India secured both medals in the Men's Triple Jump at the 2026 Commonwealth Games .
