Anurag Thakur hands out sports kits to 385 Nadaun athletes
Synopsis
BJP MP Anurag Thakur distributed 18 cricket kits, volleyball nets, badminton sets and more to 385 athletes from over a dozen sports clubs in Nadaun, Hamirpur, calling on them to help build Himachal Pradesh into a sporting destination.
Key Takeaways
385 athletes from more than 12 sports clubs in Nadaun, Hamirpur received sports equipment on 26 September 2026 .
Equipment included 18 cricket kits, 11 volleyball nets, 15 volleyballs, 8 sets of volleyball poles, 3 sets of badminton rackets, 3 boxes of shuttlecocks, and 2 badminton nets .
BJP MP Anurag Thakur , a former Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, conducted the distribution in his Hamirpur parliamentary constituency .
Thakur appealed to players to make Himachal Pradesh a 'khelbhumi' — a land of sport.
The drive aligns with grassroots goals similar to those of the Khelo India programme , which Thakur oversaw during his ministerial tenure from 2017 onward.
Three hundred and eighty-five young athletes from more than a dozen sports clubs got a tangible boost on Saturday, 26 September 2026, when BJP MP Anurag Thakur arrived in Nadaun, Himachal Pradesh — a town within his Hamirpur parliamentary constituency — and distributed a fresh haul of multi-sport equipment, calling on the players to help make Himachal Pradesh a sporting powerhouse.
The distribution covered 18 cricket kits, 11 volleyball nets, 15 volleyballs, 8 sets of volleyball poles, 3 sets of badminton rackets, 3 boxes of shuttlecocks, and 2 badminton nets — gear spanning three disciplines and designed to lift the training quality of clubs that often struggle to procure even basic equipment on their own.
Thakur's call to make Himachal a 'Khelbhumi'
Handing over the kits, Thakur issued a direct challenge to the assembled players: 'Himachal ko khelbhumi banane mein sahyog karein' — 'Join hands in turning Himachal into a land of sport.' The phrase carried deliberate weight from a leader who, as Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, oversaw the expansion of the Khelo India programme — the flagship grassroots sports scheme revamped from 2017 onward to improve talent identification and infrastructure across smaller towns and rural districts.
The logic is straightforward: without reliable kit, even talented athletes in hill districts cannot replicate competitive match conditions in training. Cricket whites wear out, volleyball poles rust or go missing, and badminton nets in communal halls rarely survive a full season. A single bulk distribution changes the daily training reality for hundreds of young players at once.
Nadaun as a grassroots sports hub
Nadaun, nestled along the Beas river in Hamirpur district, sits in the heart of a constituency Thakur has held for multiple terms. Constituency-level equipment drives of this kind are a consistent thread in his public engagements — part of a larger effort to build sporting infrastructure from the village upward, mirroring what the Khelo India architecture attempts at the national level through funded academies and state-level games.
For the 385 athletes who walked away with better gear today, the next test will be on the field — at state-level competitions where Himachal clubs routinely punch above their weight despite limited resources. That is precisely the audience Thakur's appeal is aimed at.
Point of View
High-visibility intervention that MPs use to connect national sports policy to local reality — and for Anurag Thakur, who built a ministerial identity around the Khelo India framework, such events also reinforce that identity back home. The gesture signals continued personal investment in Hamirpur's sporting ecosystem even after leaving cabinet. Whether these one-off drives translate into sustained infrastructure or coaching pipelines is the harder question Himachal Pradesh's state sports bodies will ultimately have to answer.
NationPress
26 Sept 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What sports equipment did Anurag Thakur distribute in Nadaun?
Thakur distributed 18 cricket kits, 11 volleyball nets, 15 volleyballs, 8 sets of volleyball poles, 3 sets of badminton rackets, 3 boxes of shuttlecocks, and 2 badminton nets to athletes in Nadaun, Himachal Pradesh.
How many athletes received sports kits from Anurag Thakur in Nadaun?
385 athletes from more than a dozen sports clubs in Nadaun received equipment during the distribution event on 26 September 2026 .
Which constituency does Anurag Thakur represent?
Anurag Thakur is the BJP Lok Sabha MP from Hamirpur , Himachal Pradesh. Nadaun falls within this parliamentary constituency.
What is the Khelo India programme?
Khelo India is a central government scheme revamped from 2017 onward to develop grassroots sports infrastructure, identify talent, and support competitive sports participation across smaller towns and rural India. Anurag Thakur oversaw its expansion during his tenure as Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports.
Why did Anurag Thakur call Himachal Pradesh a 'khelbhumi'?
Thakur used the term khelbhumi — meaning 'land of sport' — to appeal to local athletes to embrace competitive sports and contribute to raising Himachal Pradesh's profile as a sporting state, a vision consistent with his broader advocacy for grassroots sports development.
