Chandigarh University clinched the overall championships of the 4th Khelo India University Games 2023, Ashtalakshmi with their boxers adding five gold, one silver and four bronze medals to ensure that none of their close contenders even had an outside chance of staking claim to the top spot. 

The Khelo India University Games 2023, that started on February 17, were officially declared closed by the Hon’ble Assam sports minister Shrimati Nandita Gorlosa at the Sarusajai Sports Complex on Thursday. 

Vikash (Men 51-54kg), Harsh (Men 57-60kg), Deepak (Men 60-63.5kg), Priya (women 54-57kg) and Pranjal (women 66-70kg) clinched the gold medals for Chandigarh University, who took home the KIUG crown for the first time in four editions with a total of 71 medals, including 32 gold, 18 silver and 21 bronze.

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.

Defending champions Panjab University came up with a late surge winning five gold, two silver and three bronze medals from the boxing competitions – the men’s event was held in Gangtok, Sikkim, while women in Nehru Stadium, Guwahati – to finish fourth with a tally of 12 gold, 12 silver and 16 bronze.

Second edition champions Jain University, which led the chart for the first few days thanks to their domination of the swimming races, finished fifth with a total of 12 gold, 7 silver and 6 bronze medals.

But it was the overall prowess of Chandigarh University that made the ultimate difference as they bagged seven golds from wrestling, eight from athletics, three each from weightlifting and swimming two from fencing and one each from kabaddi, rugby, judo and badminton each.

Chandigarh University has been on the rise since finishing 34th in the first edition in Odisha. They finished 20th in the second edition and had improved their position to 11th in the last edition in Lucknow.

Speaking about the transformation of the contingent, University Co-ordination Manager Dr Mahesh Jaitely said a change in sports policy of the University was responsible for this improvement. “We increased the diet money for children three times and also increased the prize money for medal winners substantially (to attract sports talent),” he added.

Swimmers Pratyasa Ray of Utkal University with four gold, one silver and one bronze was the most successful female athlete of the Games while the honour of the most successful male athlete went to Jain University’s Xavier Michael Dsouza with four gold medals.

The fourth edition of the Games in North-East India also saw five new Games record being set in athletics. Vikash of Chandigarh University created the first record of the Games on day 1 of athletics competition in men’s 1500m and javelin thrower Jyoti (Chaudhary Devi Lal University), pole vaulter M Gowtham and long jumper Vishnu (University of Madras) and 800m runner Amandeep Kaur of Panjab University added to that list over the next two days.

In the javelin throw event, Chandigarh University’s Deepika had set a new Games record in her third throw only for Jyoti to eclipse her mark and get her name in the record books.

Results:
BOXING
Men
46-48kg: Gold – Kishan Thakran (DBU); Silver – Harwinder Singh (PUP); Bronze – Anchit Sharma (DBRAU), Karan Kumar (PUC)
48-51kg: Gold – Ashish (PUC); Silver – Avinash Chandel (HPUS); Bronze – Vishesh (CUG), Vignesh Kumar A (MGREC)
51-54 kg: Gold – Vikash (CUM); Silver – Sevan (MDUR); Bronze – Rohit Chamoli (LPUP, Ravi (DBCRM) 
54-57kg: Gold – Ashish Kumar (HPUS); Silver – Gurpreet Singh (DBU); Bronze – Deepak (CUM), Aman Dulgaj (UM)
57-60kg: Gold – Harsh (CUM); Silver – Karan (DBRAU); Bronze – Lucky (KUK), Mitesh Deshwal (MDUR)
60-63.5kg: Gold – Deepak (CUM); Silver – Pankaj (KUK); Bronze – Sachin Pawaria (BMU), Chanchal (MGSU)
63.5-67kg: Gold – Aman Rathor (DBRAU); Silver – Aniket Pandey (VNUSG); Bronze – Anuj Yadav (LPUP), Anke (PRSUP)
67-71kg: Gold – Hitesh Kumar (CHBLB); Silver – Parveen (GJUH); Bronze – Kunal Thakran (GGU), Jatan Singhmar (PDUSU)
71-75kg: Gold – Ish Pannu (CRSUJ); Silver – Himanshu (HPUS); Bronze – Abhishek Avhad (UM), Abhimannu (PUSJ)
75-80kg: Gold – Anit (SGUM); Silver – Dhruv Singh (LNIPE); Bronze – Manish (SKDHR), Kulbir (LPUP)
80-86kg: Gold – Yuvraj (IGUMR); Silver – Nitish (PUC); Bronze – Mohit (CUM), Deep (AFU)
86-92kg: Gold – Jagvinder (GKUTS); Silver – Sahil (IGUMR); Bronze – Sourab Yadav (BUB), Vivek Dahiya (PUC)
+92kg: Gold – Anshul (GJUH); Silver – Sawan Gill (PUC); Bronze – Aman (CUM), Deepak (AFU)
Women
45-48kg: Gold – Guddi (PUC); Silver – Muskan (KUK); Bronze – Annu Pandey (CHBLB), Anchal Shukla (KU)
48-50kg: Gold – Tamanna (LPUP); Silver – Malika Mor (RNTUB); Bronze – Niketa (MGSU), Pooja (CRSU)
50-52kg: Gold – Laxmi Devi (PUC); Silver – Priyanka (CDLUS); Bronze – Ayushi Awasti (BUB), Sonu (TMBSP)
52-54kg: Gold – Tanu (GKUTS) Silver – Sunita (MGSU); Bronze – Sonika (CHBLB), Tamanna (SJJTJ)
54-57kg: Gold – Priya (CUM); Silver – Anju (MGSU); Bronze – Hetal Dama (GU)
57-60kg: Gold – Thongam Kunjarani Devi (MANU); Silver – Poonam Kaithwas (SGBAU); Bronze – Sanya (PUC), Anjali (CHBLB)
60-63kg: Gold – Ravina (PUC); Silver – Deepika Sharma (LPUP); Bronze – Tejveer Kaur (SPPUP), Sarita Rai (MGKVV)
63-66kg: Gold – Yashi Sharma (LPUP); Silver – Vishakha Yadav (MGKVV); Bronze – Nidhi (CRSU)
66-70kg: Gold – Pranjal (CUM); Silver – Shretima Thakur (HPUS); Bronze – Sana Gonsalves (UM), Sanjana (NUK)
70-75kg: Gold – Jigyasa Rajput (RNTNB); Silver – Deepika (CUM); Bronze – Neha Sharma (URJ), Shweta (MDSU)
75-81kg: Gold – Komal (PUC); Silver – Naina (BMU); Bronze – Sai Davkhar (SPPUP), Tamanna (KUK)
+81kg: Gold – Megha Mariyam (MGUK); Silver – Ipsita Vikram (VBSUJ); Bronze – Harshita (DBU), Keerthana Lakshmi (ANNAU)
JUDO
Men:
+100kg: Gold – Ritik Kumar (LPUP); Silver – Aditya Parab (SPPUP); Bronze – Sahil (MDU), Manav Sharma (GNDU)
Women
+78kg: Gold – Pavitra Bhateley (RTU); Silver – Annu (BMU); Bronze – Anmol (GKU), Muskan Rathi (PUC)
SHOOTING
Men
25m Rapid Fire Pistol: Gold – Mitheskumar Gohil (Parul Uni) 24; Silver – Devansh Vashishtha (Panjab University) 21; Bronze – Raajwardan Paatil (Bharati Vidyapeeth) 16
Women
10m Air Pistol team: Gold – Maharshi Dayanand University 1698; Silver – Silver – Punjabi University 1679; Bronze – Guru Nanak Dev University
VOLLEYBALL
Men:
Gold medal match – Panjab University bt SRM University 3-2
Bronze medal match – Kurukshetra University bt HP Unversity 3-1