Raipur, March 29 (IANS) Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh clinched two gold medals each on the opening day of wrestling competition in Ambikapur while Mizoram bagged a couple of gold medals to wrap up the weightlifting competition on the fifth day of the Khelo India Tribal Games 2026 here in Raipur on Sunday.
Jharkhand opened their gold medal account with Poonam Oraon winning the women’s 50kg final against Geetha K of Telangana 6-3 while Anjit Kumar Munda won the men’s 67kg Greco Roman final beating Gujarat’s Mukesh Vasva by technical superiority.
Himachal Pradesh’s two gold medals came through Navish Kumar (97kg GR) and Priyanka Chaudhary (women’s 62kg) while Mizoram took their gold medals tally to four with Zosangzuali (women’s +86kg) and David Zohmingmawia (men’s +110 kg) finishing on top of the podium. These golds catapulted Mizoram to fifth place in the overall medals standing.
Karnataka continue to top the overall standings with 15 gold, six silvers and four bronze while Odisha are second with nine gold, four silver and 10 bronze medals. Hosts Chhattisgarh, which won a silver (Rishika Kashyap) and bronze (Lucky Babu Markam) from weightlifting, slipped to ninth in the medal standings.
Weightlifter Sambo Lapung helped Arunachal Pradesh leapfrog Assam to third place when he clinched the men’s 100kg gold with a total of 299kg. David Lal Zawmdika of Mizoram finished second with a total of 270kg with the bronze medal going to Chhattisgarh’s Lucky Babu with a total of 261kg.
Maharashtra also made their move on the medals tally as weightlifter Sakshi Burkule helped the state win their second gold medal with a dominant showing in women’s 86kg category. Her total of 150kg was 29kg more than silver winner Rishika Kashyap of Chhattisgarh.
Sakshi led from the front and was hardly challenged. It was a good show by Rishika who played within her limits and chose her weights well to finish on the podium.
Wrestler Vinod Salkar then added gold to Maharashtra’s tally by topping the Nordic competition in men’s 125kg freestyle competition.
Jammu and Kashmir also got opened their medal account on Sunday by winning a gold and silver in wrestling competition. Munir Hussain defeated Maharashtra’s Vikram Pawar 11-1 by technical superiority in the first round to win the men’s 74kg freestyle gold while Shama Hoon lost to Himachal Pradesh’s Navish Kumar in the 97kg Greco Roman final.
–IANS
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