Raipur (Chhattisgarh), April 3 (IANS) Karnataka were crowned the overall champions, claiming 23 gold, along with 8 silver and 7 bronze medals, as the inaugural edition of the Khelo India Tribal Games (KITG) 2026 concluded in Raipur on Friday.

Odisha finished 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.

Chhattisgarh finished ninth on the medals tally with 3 gold, 10 silver, and 6 bronze medals.

Praising Chhattisgarh players for their impressive performance in the inaugural Khelo India Tribal Games (KITG), Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai announced cash prizes for all the medallists and even promised a financial windfall for anyone making it to the Olympics.

“The individual gold medallists will receive a cash reward of Rs 2 lakh each, Rs 1.5 lakh for silver, and Rs 1 lakh for bronze. The medallists in the team championships will get Rs 1 lakh, Rs 75,000, and Rs 50,000 for gold, silver, and bronze respectively,” the Chief Minister announced at the colourful closing ceremony of KITG at the Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay auditorium here on Friday.

Siddharth Nagesh (men’s shot put), Nikita (weightlifting), and the women’s football team clinched the gold medal for the hosts, with their men’s football team signing off the campaign with a silver after losing the final 0-1 against West Bengal on Friday.

In all, 30 States and Union Territories participated in the inaugural edition of the Khelo India Tribal Games (KITG) 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.

Deputy Chief Minister Arun Sao, who also holds the Sports Ministry portfolio, lauded the Sports Authority of India and the state sports department for the successful conduct of the Games and insisted that the next edition would be held on a much bigger scale.

“This is the first time that Games of this stature were held in Chhattisgarh, and I must congratulate SAI, the sports department, and everyone associated with conducting these Games for their hard work and commitment to making these Games a grand success. I also promise that the next edition of the Games will be organised on a much bigger scale and Chhattisgarh will set a benchmark for everyone to follow,” he added.

The 10-day sporting extravaganza was held across three cities in Chhattisgarh, and 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 tin wrestling to ensure that neither Odisha nor Jharkhand could catch up with them.

Karnataka’s Manikanta L was the most successful athlete of the Games with eight gold medals 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 were the only contingent to have won at least one gold medal in all 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, which was 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

FOOTBALL

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

–IANS

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