Patna: Bihar’s Alka Singh delivered a standout performance at the Khelo India Youth Games 2025, winning gold in the Under-18 shot put event with an impressive throw of 14.73 metres. Competing on home ground at Patna’s Patliputra Sports Complex, Alka’s victory marked Bihar’s fourth gold medal of the tournament and played a key role in boosting the host state’s position in the overall medal tally.
Weightlifters continued to break new records at the Khelo India Youth Games 2025. On Monday, the ninth day of the seventh edition being held in Bihar, Netaji Subhas Institute (Patiala) trainee Sairaj Pardeshi won the gold medal in the 81 kg category in Rajgir, breaking three youth national records. Haryana’s Tamanna also ended the day on a high by setting the 10th youth record.
At the Patliputra Sports Complex in Patna, the athletics events kicked off with a strong start. Four meet records were broken — all by boys. Tamil Nadu’s Jitin Arjunan set a new long jump record of 7.65 metres, surpassing the previous 7.42 metres set by Aryan Chaudhary of Delhi in 2022.
The evening was special for the host state Bihar when Alka Singh clinched the gold medal in the Under-18 shot put event with a throw of 14.73 metres. This marked Bihar’s fourth gold at the Khelo India Youth Games, pushing the state to 13th place on the medal table thanks to Alka’s achievement.
Uttar Pradesh’s Qadir Khan set a new meet record in the Under-18 boys’ 400m heats by clocking 47.67 seconds, breaking the previous record held by Kerala’s Abdul Razzaq (48.34 seconds, Pune 2019). Two more records were set in the evening session: Hansraj Dhayal of Rajasthan threw 63.18 metres in discus, and Maharashtra’s Saif Farooq Chafey clocked 13.48 seconds in the 110m hurdles to set a new meet record.
Maharashtra dominate weightlifting
Maharashtra’s Pardeshi broke records in the 81 kg category in snatch (140 kg), clean and jerk (172 kg), and total lift (312 kg). M. Tarun from Andhra Pradesh (287 kg) and Ayush Rana from Uttar Pradesh (264 kg) followed behind.
Out of Maharashtra’s 35 gold medals, five have come from weightlifting. Swimmers (seven golds) and archers (six golds) have also made significant contributions. Karnataka and Rajasthan are in second and third places, respectively, while Haryana is in fourth.
Kerala climb, J&K make a comeback
Kerala jumped to sixth place by winning all three golds in Kalaripayattu on Monday, taking its total to eight golds — just one behind Madhya Pradesh. Jammu & Kashmir won a medal in Kalaripayattu (a bronze in the boys’ Chuvadu individual event by Nitin Kumar) for the first time since 2021. This is their second medal at KIYG 2025 in Bihar, the first being a gold in volleyball.
“I am very happy. I trained hard for 4–5 hours daily. Coach Danish also worked very hard with me. I’m glad the effort paid off,” said Nitin after winning bronze at the IIM campus in Gaya.
For More on Khelo India Youth Games, click: https://youth.kheloindia.gov.in/
For Medal Tally of KIYG 2025, click: https://youth.kheloindia.gov.in/medal-tally
