KITG 2026: Karnataka Emerge Overall Champions; Hosts Chhattisgarh Finish Ninth

KITG 2026: Karnataka emerge overall champions; hosts Chhattisgarh finish ninth (Image Source: IANS)

Khelo India Tribal Games: Former world junior champion Komalika Bari of Jharkhand added the recurve women’s archery gold medal to her mixed triumph, while Odisha’s Arjun Khara won the recurve men’s category, but these efforts were not enough for the chasing pack to dislodge Karnataka from the top of the medals tally on the final day of the inaugural Khelo India Tribal Games here on Friday.

30 states and union territories participated in the inaugural edition of the Khelo India Tribal Games that witnessed close to 3800 participants compete in nine sports disciplines. A whopping 106 gold medals were on offer across archery, athletics, football, hockey, swimming, weightlifting and wrestling while traditional sports like Mallakhamb and Kabaddi were demonstration sports.

Of the 106 gold medals, Karnataka claimed 23 along with 8 silver and 7 bronze to clinch the overall champions crown with Odisha finishing second with 21 gold, 15 silver and 21 bronze medals. Odisha were the only contingent to cross a half-century of medals, finishing with 57 medals. Jharkhand were third with 16 gold, 8 silver and 11 bronze.

Hosts Chhattisgarh also gave a strong account of the sporting talent among the tribal community as they clinched 3 gold, 10 silver and 6 bronze to finish ninth. Chhattisgarh’s last medal was a silver in men’s football on Saturday when they went down 0-1 against West Bengal in the final.

Overall champions Karnataka led the medals tally from the opening day as they dominated the swimming events, winning 15 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze medals. They added 5 gold in athletics and three in wrestling to ensure that neither Odisha or Jharkhand could catch up with them.

Karnataka’s Manikanta L was the most successful athlete of the Games with 8 gold and one silver while his teammate Dhoneesh N bagged five gold and a silver for his effort in the swimming competition. Among the women’s competitors, Odisha swimmer Anjali Munda clinched five gold medals while Meghanjali of Karnataka finished with four gold and two bronze medals.

Odisha was the only contingent to have won at least one gold medal in all the six sports disciplines, including eight in athletics and seven in swimming. Jharkhand on the other hand bagged nine gold medals in athletics, four in wrestling and three in archery apart from winning at least one medal in the other three disciplines.

Apart from football, there were four gold medals on offer in archery on the final day and it was clear that Odisha, who were three behind Karnataka on the gold medal count after the penultimate day’s action, had no chance of catching up as they could have won not more than two gold medals on the archery field.

Arjun Khara bagged one of them in recurve men’s individual beating statemate Somanatha Hembram in the final but the men’s team went down against Jharkhand 4-6 in the final.

Komalika Bari then added another gold to Jharkhand’s tally when she defeated Gujarat’s Bhargavi Bhagora in the individual final. Nagaland took home the women’s team gold beating Jharkhand to finish in 14th position with 2 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals.

A total of 25 states and Union Territories found a place on the medals tally with 20 of them winning at least one gold medal, highlighting the broad talent pool across the country. Maharashtra finished fourth with 6 gold, 10 silver and 4 bronze while Arunachal Pradesh completed the top five with 6 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze medals.

RESULTS

ARCHERY

Women

Recurve Individual: Gold – Komalika Bari (Jharkhand); Silver – Bhargavi Bhagora (Gujarat); Bronze – Ruovinuo Theunuo (Nagaland)

Recurve Team: Gold – Nagaland; Silver – Jharkhand; Bronze – Madhya Pradesh

Men

Recurve Individual: Gold – Arjun Khara (Odisha); Silver – Somanath Hembram (Odisha); Bronze – Pavan Parmar (Madhya Pradesh)

Recurve Team: Gold – Jharkhand; Silver – Odisha; Bronze – Meghalaya

Recurve Individual: Gold – Arjun Khara (Odisha); Silver – Somanath Hembram (Odisha); Bronze – Pavan Parmar (Madhya Pradesh)

Men: Gold – West Bengal; Silver – Chhattisgarh; Bronze – Arunachal Pradesh, Goa

Article Source: IANS