Sanju Devi Biography: Age, Height, Early Life, Kabaddi Career, Facts, and Net Worth

Sanju Devi is an Indian kabaddi player from Chhattisgarh who has made a name for herself in women’s kabaddi. She plays as a raider and became the first woman kabaddi player from Chhattisgarh to represent India at the international level. Her journey from Kerakachhar village in Korba district to the Indian national team is closely linked with school kabaddi, district-level training, the Bilaspur residential academy and her family’s support.

Sanju Devi’s biggest international achievement came in 2025. She was part of the Indian women’s team that won the 6th Women’s Asian Kabaddi Championship in Iran and later won the Women’s Kabaddi World Cup in Dhaka, Bangladesh. In the World Cup final against Chinese Taipei, she scored 16 raid points, including a four-point raid, and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

Her rise is also important in the context of Chhattisgarh kabaddi. The state’s official Youth Commission website says that Sanju’s international selection marked the first time in Chhattisgarh’s 25-year history that a kabaddi player from the state represented the country internationally. She was also named for the Martyr Rajiv Pandey Award for 2025-26 in Chhattisgarh.

Sanju Devi Biography

Details	Information
Full Name	Sanju Devi
Date of Birth	19 December 2002*
Age	23 years (as of September 2026)*
Birthplace	Kerakachhar, Pali block, Korba district, Chhattisgarh
State	Chhattisgarh
Country	India
Sport	Kabaddi
Playing Position	Raider
National Team	India Women
First Senior International Year	2025
Major International Honours	Asian Championship Gold, Women’s Kabaddi World Cup Gold
World Cup 2025 Award	Most Valuable Player
Height	Not reliably available in public records
Boyfriend	No reliable public information available
Hobbies	Not reliably documented publicly
Net Worth	Not publicly disclosed

Early Life of Sanju Devi

Sanju Devi was born in Kerakachhar village in the Pali block of Korba district, Chhattisgarh. She grew up in a family where money was limited, and her father Ramji was the main earning member of the household. Her mother, Amrika, is a homemaker, while her younger brother has also been mentioned in reports about the family.

Her interest in kabaddi started at school. Sanju first played kabaddi in Class 5 at her government school, and at that stage the sport was mainly something she enjoyed for fun. Later, watching her two cousins play kabaddi at college made her more interested in taking the game seriously. She gradually started thinking about kabaddi as something that could become part of her professional life.

The early path was not easy because there were not many girls around her who were interested in playing kabaddi. Sanju has spoken about how, at the age of 15, she sometimes struggled even to form a girls’ team for practice. However, she kept playing in inter-school competitions and continued to look for ways to improve.

Sanju Devi’s Family and Support

Family support played a major part in Sanju Devi’s kabaddi journey. Her parents supported her even when the family had to manage limited income. Reports about her life say that her father earned around Rs 75,000 a year and was the sole breadwinner, while expenses related to food, travel and accommodation created an additional challenge during her early training years.

Sanju’s family was not simply helping her financially. Their support also allowed her to continue her studies while she trained as a kabaddi player. She was taking an ITI fitter course in Pali when she started travelling to Korba for training, showing how she tried to balance education and sport at the same time.

As her career developed, Sanju’s family became an important part of her public story. After her World Cup success in 2025, she returned home to Chhattisgarh and received congratulations from state leaders and members of the local community. The celebrations highlighted how closely her sporting journey was connected to her family and home state.

Start of Her Kabaddi Career

Sanju Devi’s more serious kabaddi journey began around 2021. At that stage, she started training with the district kabaddi association in Korba. Her first coach was Anuj Pratap Singh, who helped teach her the basics and played an important role in her early development.

Training meant travelling a long distance from her village to Korba. Reports say the journey took around 90 minutes each way, which meant nearly three hours could be spent travelling in a day. To manage this routine along with her ITI course, Sanju stayed in a hostel in Korba for four days before returning to Pali for two days.

Although she received free coaching, the costs of food and staying in Korba still had to be managed by her family. This period became an important stage in her development because she was no longer playing kabaddi only at the school level. She was now training with a clear goal of moving into higher-level competitions.

Domestic Kabaddi Career

Sanju Devi’s domestic career developed through school, district and state-level kabaddi before she moved into the national system. Her participation in the 69th Senior National Kabaddi Championship for women in 2023 is documented in an official Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India certificate record, where she is listed as a player representing Chhattisgarh.

She was also part of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Vishwavidyalaya, Bilaspur’s women’s kabaddi team during the Khelo India University Games 2022. A match report from the tournament noted that Sanju contributed heavily for the university side in the opening stages of its game against Chaudhary Ranbir Singh University, Jind.

A major step came in 2023 when she was selected at the Khelo India State Centre of Excellence and Girls Residential Kabaddi Academy in Bilaspur. The academy provided her with free training, food and accommodation. This gave her a more stable training environment and reduced the financial pressure on her family. She trained there under coach Dil Kumar Rathod.

Sanju Devi’s Playing Position and Style

Sanju Devi is a raider for the Indian women’s kabaddi team. Her role is mainly to enter the opposition half, score raid points and return safely to her side. Her performances in major matches show that she can be used as an attacking option when the team needs points.

Her role was clearly visible in the 2025 Women’s Kabaddi World Cup final. Against Chinese Taipei, she scored 16 raid points and produced a four-point super raid in the first half. She also scored India’s first point of the final and was involved in several important phases of the match as India won 35-28.

Rather than relying on a single public statistic to describe her career, Sanju’s documented record shows a steady progression from school kabaddi to domestic competition and then international tournaments. Her rise has happened over several stages, with structured training in Bilaspur playing an important part in that development.

Sanju Devi’s International Career

Sanju Devi made her senior international breakthrough in 2025. She was selected for India’s squad for the 6th Senior Women’s Asian Kabaddi Championship in Tehran, Iran, held from March 4 to 9, 2025. The official AKFI squad document lists Sanju Devi among the Indian players for the competition.

India won the Asian Championship, with Sanju becoming part of the team that secured the gold medal. Chhattisgarh’s official Youth Commission later noted that the Asian Championship victory also helped India qualify for the Women’s Kabaddi World Cup.

Later in 2025, Sanju was selected for India’s Women’s Kabaddi World Cup campaign in Dhaka. India went through the tournament unbeaten and reached the final against Chinese Taipei. In the title match, Sanju scored 16 raid points as India won 35-28 and retained the Women’s Kabaddi World Cup title.

The World Cup became the defining tournament of Sanju Devi’s international career so far. She was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, an award that recognised her performances across India’s campaign. Her World Cup performance brought widespread attention to her career and also made her one of the best-known kabaddi players from Chhattisgarh.

Sanju Devi at the 2026 Asian Games

Sanju Devi has also been selected in India’s women’s kabaddi squad for the 2026 Asian Games. The squad announced for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games includes Sanju along with players such as Ritu Negi, Pushpa Rana, Sonali Shingate, Bhavna Devi, Manisha Kumari and others.

Her inclusion comes after her Asian Championship and World Cup successes in 2025. The 2026 Asian Games squad therefore adds another major international appearance to her growing career record. At the same time, it should be noted that squad selection and actual match appearances are not the same thing, so complete tournament playing statistics should be checked after the competition.

Sanju Devi’s Career Stats

Detailed match-by-match career statistics for Sanju Devi are not widely published in one reliable public database. Therefore, the table below includes the major verified figures and achievements that are currently documented by official federation records and established news reports.

Career Category	Sanju Devi’s Record
Playing Position	Raider
School Kabaddi Start	Class 5
Inter-School Kabaddi	Played by age 15
Professional Kabaddi Journey	Began around 2021
Senior National Championship	Participated in 69th Senior Nationals, 2023
Asian Championship	6th Women’s Asian Kabaddi Championship, 2025
Asian Championship Result	Gold Medal
Women’s Kabaddi World Cup	2025
World Cup Result	Gold Medal with India
World Cup Final	India 35-28 Chinese Taipei
World Cup Final Raid Points	16
Four-Point Raid in Final	1
World Cup Award	Most Valuable Player
2026 Asian Games	Selected in India women’s squad

Sources: AKFI, Chhattisgarh Youth Commission, Indian Express, Times of India and other tournament reports.

Sanju Devi Boyfriend

There is no reliable public information confirming Sanju Devi’s boyfriend or relationship status. The major interviews and profiles about her have mainly focused on her family, education, financial challenges, coaches and kabaddi career.

Sanju Devi Hobbies

Unlike her kabaddi career, Sanju Devi’s hobbies and interests outside sport have not been widely documented by reliable media sources. Most published profiles concentrate on her training, education, family background and rise through Indian women’s kabaddi.

Sanju Devi Net Worth

Sanju Devi’s exact net worth has not been publicly disclosed through reliable financial records or official sources. There are websites that may publish estimated figures for sports personalities, but without verified information about salary, prize money, sponsorships, endorsements, savings and other income, such numbers would only be guesses.

Sanju Devi Facts

Sanju Devi started playing kabaddi in Class 5 at her village government school. She later competed at the inter-school level and became involved with the Korba district kabaddi association.

She trained under Anuj Pratap Singh during the early part of her career and later trained at the Girls Residential Kabaddi Academy in Bilaspur under coach Dil Kumar Rathod.

She is recognised as the first woman kabaddi player from Chhattisgarh to represent India internationally. Her 2025 international season included gold at the Asian Championship and gold at the Women’s Kabaddi World Cup.

In the 2025 Women’s Kabaddi World Cup final, Sanju scored 16 raid points against Chinese Taipei as India won 35-28. She also produced a four-point raid during the match.

She was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2025 Women’s Kabaddi World Cup. Her performance in that tournament became the biggest individual award of her career to date.

Sanju was also selected for India’s women’s kabaddi squad for the 2026 Asian Games.

Sanju Devi’s Professional Life

Sanju Devi’s professional life has followed a clear path from village kabaddi to the national team. She began with school games, moved into district training, represented her university and state, and later entered the Indian senior setup. Each stage gave her a different level of competition and training.

The establishment of the residential academy in Bilaspur was an important part of her professional journey because it gave her access to regular coaching, food and accommodation. For an athlete from a financially limited family, this type of support can make a major difference in continuing sport as a full-time career.

Her international breakthrough came in 2025 and brought two major gold medals in the same year. The Asian Championship gave her a first major senior international title, while the World Cup gave her both a team title and the individual MVP award.

As of September 2026, Sanju Devi is part of India’s women’s kabaddi squad for the Asian Games. Her career record already includes domestic competition, senior international representation, two major international gold medals and a World Cup MVP award. For a player who started kabaddi in Class 5, her journey has developed through several clear stages and remains closely connected with Chhattisgarh’s growing kabaddi story.