All posts tagged: KIYG

Bihar to host mega event across 5 cities

Bihar to host mega event across 5 cities

Published by Webster

The seventh edition of the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) 2025 is all set to begin from May 4 to 15, bringing together over 10,000 young athletes from across the country. The games will be hosted by Bihar, with events taking place across Patna, Rajgir, Gaya, Bhagalpur, and Begusarai. A few competitions, including shooting, gymnastics, and track cycling, will be conducted in Delhi. Maharashtra, the defending champions, will aim to retain their title after winning 158 medals (57 gold, 48 silver, 53 bronze) in the previous edition. Tamil Nadu (98 medals) and Haryana (103 medals) were the other top finishers. Haryana has also won the overall title twice—in 2018 and 2021. The opening ceremony will be held at the Patliputra Sports Complex in Patna and will be inaugurated virtually by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sport disciplines at KIYG 2025? A total of 28 disciplines—including Olympic, non-Olympic, and indigenous sports like mallakhamb, yogasana, kalaripayattu, gatka, and kho kho—will be contested. Esports has been added as a demonstration sport for the first time. Schedule of KIYG 2025 …

With Dingko Singh’s Magic Words Ringing In Her Ears, Elangbam Picks KIYG Silver

Published by Webster

A prodigy of the famed boxing coach Leishangthem Ibomcha Singh, and then a trainee under late Asian Games medallist Dingko Singh, Manipur’s Elangbam Thoicha Devi had no inclination towards the sport before she met the duo. Elangbam started her career as a football player on the insistence of her father before a chance meeting with the boxing duo, made her fall for the combat sport in which she finds herself a late bloomer. “I started as a footballer as my father wanted to see me in the state team, but then I was always fascinated by individual sports, and when I saw other boxers being coached by Ibomcha sir and Dingko sir, I wanted to join them,” she said. The 17-year-old, who currently trains at the SAI SAG Khuman Lampak stadium under W Hanbi Devi, said the magic words of Dingko keep ringing every time she steps into the ring, and derives the inspiration to never let the failures affect her focus on the sport. “It was a close fight, the words of Dingko …

Raised By Widowed Anganwadi Worker Mother, Maharashtra’s Grishma Thorat Lifts KIYG Silver

Published by Webster

Thane weightlifter Grishma Thorat, who picked a silver in women’s 76kg category at the Khelo India Youth Games 2023, has finally made peace with herself after a tragic personal loss left her devastated and shook her deep inside. For the past two years, Grishma’s life revolved around the memories of her late father, who lost his battle to post-Covid infections, mere four days after she returned from Bhubaneswar with a sixth-place finish at the junior nationals in 2022. “A couple of days after I returned from Bhubaneswar, my father had to be admitted to the hospital due to Covid-related complications. We weren’t ready for the worst situation and thought he would recover. However, fate had something else written for us,” said an emotional Grishma, who is a 10th standard student in a local school. “It (last two years) has been the toughest phase of my career so far. Every time, I go for training or start doing anything the memories of my father keep flashing in front of me. I was mentally shattered, …

KIYG 2023: Joydeep Karmakar’s Son Adriyan Handles Expectations, Defends Title And Rediscovers Love For Shooting

Published by Webster

Adriyan Karmakar not only loves shooting but also talking about shooting. “I can go on and on about it,” he says. At the 6th Khelo India Youth Games in Chennai, Adriyan, representing West Bengal, successfully defended his gold medal in the 50m 3 positions event. At 18, he has already been shooting targets for two-thirds of his life. He has already had a phase where shooting became more of a chore that he felt he had to do because of who he was: the son of 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, 2010 World Cup silver medallist and 2012 Olympics 4th-placed rifle shooter Joydeep Karmakar. He then had a frank conversation with his father, gradually rediscovered his passion for the sport, switched to 50m from 10m, and there’s been no looking back since. “A few years back, I kind of strayed away from the sport. I was not focused because I had been shooting from a very young age. So I had a phase where it was just, ‘okay, my dad is telling me …

KIYG 2023: Bihar Farmer’s Daughter Durga Singh Runs Into Record Books With 1500m Gold

Published by Webster

As a child obsessed with sports, Durga Singh would run in the wide open spaces around the fields in her remote village of Belwa Thakurai in Gopalganj district of Bihar. In an area with little sporting background, Durga’s father Shambhu Sharan Singh, a wheat farmer, was the only person who encouraged her. “I have faced a lot of challenges. There was no eagerness for sport in my family, apart from my father, who would always say, ‘you go wherever you want to, do whatever you want to.’ Only he supported me, which is why I am here,” an elated Durga said after shattering the 1500m Games record with a timing of 4 minutes 29.22 seconds at the 6th Khelo India Youth Games in Chennai on Wednesday. The Class X student had won the 1500m gold at the 38th Junior National Athletics Championship in Coimbatore last year clocking 4 minutes 38.29 seconds. The fourth of five siblings, Durga would also play kabaddi and football as a child but her heroes were runners. She was …

Hailing From Gujarat’s ‘Mini Africa’, Judoka Shahin Darjada Ready For Bigger Challenges After KIYG Glory

Published by Webster

One would mistakenly count Shahin Darjada, seated with cornrows decorated with beads on her head, as some sports fan enjoying an outing at the indoor hall of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium where the judo competitions of the ongoing Khelo India Youth Games are being held. Hailing from Jambur village, popularly known as the ‘Mini Africa’ of Gujarat, Shahin walked away with a gold medal in the 57kg category with a convincing win over Himachal Pradesh’s Rupanshi in the final. There are a couple of more players hailing from the region, situated around 20km from Gir, and has served as a home to the Siddi community, which is of African origin. Shahin, who recently won a silver medal at the Asian Junior Judo Championship in Tashkent, now has two gold, one silver and one bronze from her four appearances in the Khelo India Youth Games. “It was an easy bout for me. The opponent did not trouble me as I carried experience of four Khelo India competitions. It was my opponent’s first Khelo India …