When Indian women’s kabaddi team captain Pushpa Rana spoke to her parents over the phone on the night before the final, the Shillai constituency native sounded confident. She discussed the team’s strategy with her father and assured her mother that she would return home with a gold medal. A day later, that promise turned into reality, triggering celebrations across Shillai and Sirmaur.“I spoke to my daughter over the phone the previous night and we discussed the strategy for the final. She was very confident about the match,” Pushpa’s father Jai Pal Rana said after India defeated Iran 37-34 to win the women’s kabaddi gold at the 2026 Asian Games.Pushpa’s mother Champa Devi said she could not hold back her tears of joy after learning that India had won the gold.“Yesterday, when I spoke to my daughter, she sounded confident about the final. She told me, ‘Maa, hum gold medal jeetkar wapas apne desh aur ghar aayenge.’ Today, when I heard that India had won, tears of joy welled up in my eyes,” she said.For Shillai, the victory was much more than a sporting triumph. It was a moment of collective pride as India secured its second consecutive Asian Games women’s kabaddi gold, with Pushpa leading the side from the front.Jai Pal Rana, himself a state-level kabaddi player and a JBT teacher, said watching his daughter lead the national side was a matter of immense pride for the family and the region.The victory also brought back memories of the 2018 Asian Games, when Iran defeated India 27-24 in the women’s kabaddi final to claim gold. This time, India prevailed 37-34. The triumph carried added significance as India turned the tables on the team that had denied it gold in 2018.Sirmaur’s connection with India’s Asian Games gold-winning campaigns is equally striking. In 2022, Ritu Negi, another player from the district, captained India to gold at Hangzhou. Four years later, Pushpa carried forward that legacy as captain.Ritu was also part of the 2026 Indian squad despite her injury. The squad also included Himachal Pradesh players Jyoti Thakur of Solan and Bhavna Thakur of Mandi.India entered the final after an unbeaten campaign, defeating Bangladesh 42-21, Iran 37-23 and Japan 50-25 before overcoming Nepal 48-24 in the semi-final.Celebrating the achievement, Industries Minister and local MLA Harshwardhan Chauhan said the success of Pushpa and Ritu was a matter of immense pride for the Shillai constituency and Sirmaur district. Their performances had brought laurels to Himachal Pradesh and inspired countless young girls to take up sports and dream of representing the country.