Khelo India Youth Games Day 4: Archers catapult Maharashtra to top; Rajasthan second after sweep of cycling gold

The Hindu

07-05-2025

Maharashtra regained its place at the top of the Khelo India Youth Games 2025 Bihar medal charts on Wednesday with a sweep of the six Archery gold medals in Bhagalpur, which countered Rajasthan's surge through a four-gold haul at the Yamuna Velodrome in the Indira Gandhi Indoor Complex in New Delhi.
Maharashtra's gold rush was also aided by Vedant Waghmare who won the boys 50m Rifle 3 Positions shooting at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Ranges in New Delhi and another with a victory in the boys 4x100m Medley in the swimming event in Gaya, saw its gold collection increase to 14. It also had 12 silver and 12 bronze medals at the time of writing.
Target Asian Games Group athlete Harshita Jakhar was in the forefront for Rajasthan as its cyclist bagged all four gold on Wednesday. Rajasthan was perched in the second spot with 10 gold, four silver and three bronze medals while Karnataka's twin gold medals in the swimming pool saw it finish the day with a collection of eight gold, 11 silver and three bronze.
Bihar also enjoyed a good day in office, winning six medals, including five in Gatka – a just reward for some smart planning that entailed the hiring of coaches from Punjab, Balraj Singh and Jasbir Singh, to train the Bihar athletes in the run-up to the Games.
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Suhani Kumari continued to keep the Bihar banner flying, claiming a third cycling medal in the individual pursuit, adding to the two silver medals she won on Tuesday to help Bihar nudge closer to the double figure mark with four silver medals and five bronze.
Suhani said she has enjoyed competing in the Games and tried her best to inspire her peers to bag more medals for Bihar. The 18-year-old currently trains at the Sports Authority of India National Centre of Excellence in Patiala.
Ujjwal Bharat Olekar and Sharvari Somanath Shende claimed the boys and girls recurve tiles while Manav Ganeshrao Jadhav and Prithika swept to the top of the podium in the compound competition. Maharashtra mixed recurve (Dnyanesh Cherale and Sharvari Somanath Shende) and compound (Ganeshrao Jadhav and Tejal Rajendra Salve) completed the set of six gold medals.
Harshita completed a hat-trick of gold on her Khelo India debut. The 18-year-old has made the Games a memorable one. The Individual Pursuit title ahead of Bhumika (Haryana) added to her growing stature as India's premier endurance cyclists of her generation.
Quite surprisingly, one of Khelo India Games powerhouses Haryana has been slow to make a mark on the medals table. Arjun Singh' 50m Backstroke victory in BIPARD Swimming Pool and Tushar's 66kg class Judo win late in the evening helped the north Indian State gather some steam and increase its tally to a three gold.
At the shooting ranges in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh won both Trap gold on offer. Syed Ahyaan Ali and Poonam Raghuwanshi claimed victories in contrasting styles, the former dominating the boys final while the latter to hold her nerves to beat back Tanisska Senthilkumar (Tamil Nadu) by a one-point margin.
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Khelo India Youth Games