A glittering closing ceremony with musical performances from local artists marked the end of the 4th Khelo India University Games, 2023, Ashtalakshmi in the presence of Smt. Nandita Gorlosa, Minister of Sports & Youth Welfare, Govt of Assam and Dr Ranoj Pegu, Minister of Education at the Sarusajai Sports Complex here on Thursday.

Chandigarh University were crowned the overall champions of the KIUG 2023, Ashtalakshmi with a total of 71 medals, including 32 gold, 18 silver and 21 bronze. This is the first time that Chandigarh University has won the overall crown.

Lovely Professional University were a distant second with 20 gold, 14 silver and eight bronze while Guru Nanak Dev University finished third with 12 gold, 20 silver and 19 bronze and were only contingent apart from the champions to cross the 50-medal mark.

Mr Kausar Jamil Hilaly, Secretary, Sports & Youth Welfare Department, Govt of Assam, Mr Prem Kumar Jha, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Sports and Youth Welfare, Govt of India, and Mr Baljit Singh Sekhon, Joint Secretary, Association of Indian Universities were among the other dignitaries present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Smt Nandita Gorlosa said, “I’m happily standing here after yet another cap in Assam’s feather as the state successfully hosted another multi-disciplined national level event, the 4th edition of the Khelo India University Games 2023 Ashtalakshmi setting a new standard in hospitality and organization. The Khelo India initiative based on Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi's vision of youth empowerment through sports has become a flagship annual event and Assam is proud to have successfully hosted the 4th edition of the University Games."

“Assam has established itself as a sports destination of the Northeast by successfully hosting major events like the National Games, South Asian Games and the Khelo India Youth Games, but recently Assam has hosted a grassroot level sports event Khel Maharan, where more than 27,00,000  athletes has participated and from tomorrow we will be having this Khel Maharan final in six districts of Assam and hopefully we will see that the younger generation are much more interested in sports and we will be able to tap them for the future,” she added.

The fourth edition of the Khelo India University Games witnessed participation of more than 5000 athletes from over 163 universities in the 20 disciplines held across the various venues in Assam and other North Eastern states. The event witnessed several record-breaking performances in various events from the athletes, setting a new on-field benchmark.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Hilaly said, “I must commend all of Team Assam and the Sports Authority of India, particularly for this miracle that they brought out by organising the collection of equipment from places like Bihar to make sure we cut down on the cost. It is because of the extreme hard work that we were able to prepare our FOP's within the stipulated timeline and be able to create quality infrastructure for the games.”