KIYG 2025: Maharashtra set to bag team title as athletes blaze track; Bihar wins more gold (Roundup)

Patna, May 14 (IANS) With their athletes bagging 10 gold medals, Maharashtra maintained their position at the top of the tally and are all set to win the team championship title with a day left for the Khelo India Youth Games 2025 to end. Thanks to their athletes' dominance in the track and field competition, Maharashtra has a huge lead over Haryana and Rajasthan, at No. 2 and No. 3 on the medal tally on Wednesday.

Host Bihar may not be among the top 10 teams in this edition of Khelo India, but they continue to make an impression. Bihar’s tally of gold medals swelled to seven with victories from an unexpected quarter, Thang-Ta, a traditional martial art practiced in North-East India. Coached by a Manipuri, Bihar won two Thang-Ta gold medals in Gaya.

Every evening, on the tracks of the Patliputra Sports Complex, Bihar has come to the party. On another sweltering evening, Khushi Yadav ran a lonely race to win the 2000m steeplechase gold with consummate ease. It was Bihar’s second gold in track and field after Alka Singh’s shot put gold.

The weightlifting competition, which has produced 13 youth national records, came to an end in Rajgir on Wednesday. Bihar and Jammu & Kashmir won their first weightlifting medals of the Games in a sport where Maharashtra was dominant.

These Games have been all about rising talent who train at several Khelo India centres or National Centres of Excellence. The boxing competition, which also came to an end, threw up a few surprises with Mizoram’s Samuel Zadeng catching the eye with his gold in the 70 kg category.

As expected, Haryana boxers dominated the ring and have caught the attention of the talent spotters.

In the men’s football final in Begusarai, Jharkhand defeated Odisha for the boys’ title. Meghalaya and Mizoram finished in joint third. The final was well contested with Odisha and Jharkhand finishing 2-2 after regulation time. In the shootout that followed, Jharkhand won 5-4.

On the penultimate day of wrestling competition, Haryana grapplers dominated the podium, taking three of the seven gold medals on offer. In the girls’ 69kg weight division, Haryana’s Manisha emerged the champion after defeating Rajasthan’s Palak Yadav 4-0, while the bronze medals went to Anshika Yadav of Uttar Pradesh and Sukhdeep Kumari of Punjab.

In the boys’ Greco-Roman category, Haryana’s Vineet (71kg) took home the gold while in the boys’ U-17 freestyle category, Sahil enriched the state with the third gold in the 55kg category after beating Delhi’s Chirag Dahiya. The bronze medals went to the Maharashtra duo of Soham Sunil Kumbhar and Dhanraj Ganapati Jamnik.

Thursday will be the final day of the competition with seven wrestling gold medals up for grabs. Even if Haryana wins all seven, Maharashtra looks home and dry with a massive lead of 20-plus gold medals.

--IANS

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