Three athletes from Tamil Nadu came home from the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games with medals: weightlifter Raja Muthupandi (silver, men’s 65kg), triple jumper Praveen Chithravel (silver) and triple jumper Selva Prabhu Thirumaran (bronze). That made Tamil Nadu the third-best state in India’s medal haul by number of medallists, behind Haryana and Manipur, according to a state-wise count by The Bridge.
India finished fourth on the official Glasgow 2026 medal table with 39 medals: 13 gold, 17 silver and 9 bronze. On 5 August the state government handed the three Tamil Nadu medallists ₹80 lakh between them. Here is what each of them did, what the state paid, and why the list is shorter than at earlier Games.
The three Tamil Nadu medals at Glasgow 2026
| Athlete | Home district | Event | Result | State award |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raja Muthupandi | Thoothukudi | Weightlifting, men’s 65kg | Silver, 286kg total | ₹30 lakh |
| Praveen Chithravel | Tiruvarur | Athletics, men’s triple jump | Silver, 16.58m | ₹30 lakh |
| Selva Prabhu Thirumaran | Madurai | Athletics, men’s triple jump | Bronze, 16.52m | ₹20 lakh |
Districts are as reported by DT Next and IANS. The award amounts are from the 5 August presentation, IANS reported.
Raja Muthupandi: a record lift and a narrow second place
Muthupandi’s silver came early in the Games at the Scottish Event Campus. He missed his opening snatch at 126kg, made it on the second try, then failed at 129kg. In the clean and jerk he missed 158kg before lifting 160kg, a Commonwealth Games record that briefly put him in the gold position, The Bridge reported. Malaysia’s Aznil Bin Bidin Muhamad answered with 166kg and a Games-record total of 299kg. Muthupandi’s last attempt at 170kg failed, leaving him on 286kg (126kg plus 160kg).
Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay announced a ₹30 lakh award for him on 27 July, saying the win would give young people fresh confidence, DT Next reported. The same report noted that the Tamil post accompanying the announcement identified him as being from Thoothukudi district.
Praveen and Selva: two Tamil Nadu jumpers on one podium
The men’s triple jump on 1 August was the best day of the Games for the state. Jamaica’s Jordan Scott won with 16.72m. Praveen Chithravel took silver with 16.58m on his fourth jump, and Selva Prabhu Thirumaran took bronze with 16.52m on his fifth, IANS reported.
- Praveen Chithravel won gold at the first Khelo India School Games in 2018 and bronze at that year’s Youth Olympics. At Birmingham 2022 he missed a medal by three centimetres. He has since pushed the Indian outdoor record to 17.37m and won bronze at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
- Selva Prabhu, 21 and born in Madurai, won silver at the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships and set an Indian U20 record of 16.79m. In 2026 he reached a personal best of 17.05m and won the NCAA Division I outdoor title in the United States.
Both appear in the athletics section of India’s squad list, which had 126 athletes in all, Outlook reported.
Why the Tamil Nadu list is short this time
Glasgow ran a slimmed-down Games. The official Glasgow 2026 site lists ten sports: 3×3 basketball and wheelchair basketball, artistic gymnastics, athletics and para athletics, bowls and para bowls, boxing, judo, netball, swimming and para swimming, track cycling and para track cycling, and weightlifting and para powerlifting. Squash, table tennis, badminton, hockey, shooting and wrestling were not on the programme. Several of those are sports where Chennai players have won Commonwealth medals before, so fewer Tamil Nadu athletes had a route to Glasgow at all.
We could not find an official state-wise list of India’s Glasgow entries from the Sports Authority of India, the Indian Olympic Association or the state’s Sports Development Authority (SDAT). The national squad list does not give home states. So this article confirms the three medallists and does not attempt a full list of Tamil Nadu participants who finished outside the medals.
What the medallists get next
Beyond the one-time awards, Commonwealth medallists are meant to be covered by the state’s Dream Olympics 2036 programme, launched in Chennai on 8 October. According to DT Next, medallists from the Asian Games, Para Asian Games and Commonwealth Games will be inducted, with a monthly stipend of ₹1 lakh and annual assistance of ₹50 lakh. The government had not published detailed rules for the programme on an official page by the time we checked, so the timing of payments for the Glasgow medallists is not yet clear.
Quick answers
How many medals did Tamil Nadu win at the 2026 Commonwealth Games?
Three: silver for Raja Muthupandi (weightlifting, 65kg), silver for Praveen Chithravel and bronze for Selva Prabhu Thirumaran (both triple jump).
Where did India finish at Glasgow 2026?
Fourth, with 13 gold, 17 silver and 9 bronze, behind Australia, England and Canada, on the official medal table.
How much did the Tamil Nadu government pay the medallists?
₹30 lakh each for the two silver medallists and ₹20 lakh for the bronze medallist, a total of ₹80 lakh, presented on 5 August 2026.
Why were there no Tamil Nadu squash or table tennis medals?
Neither sport was on the Glasgow 2026 programme, which had only ten sports.
Information checked against official sources on 23 October 2026. Fees, dates and rules can change; confirm on the linked official pages before acting.
Sources
- Medal standings (Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games)
- Glasgow 2026 official site: sports and venues (Glasgow 2026)
- India at Commonwealth Games 2026: medals by state (The Bridge)
- Raja Muthupandi wins silver in 65kg weightlifting (The Bridge)
- Praveen wins silver, Selva bags bronze in men’s triple jump (IANS)
- CM Vijay announces Rs 30 lakh award for CWG silver medallist (DT Next)
- TN CM presents Rs 80 lakh incentives to Commonwealth medal winners (IANS via Social News XYZ)
- India’s Commonwealth Games 2026 contingent (Outlook)
- Dream Olympic 2036: CM Vijay launches scheme (DT Next)
