KIUG 2025: Chandigarh retain overall championship, Srihari most successful athlete

Jaipur, Dec 5 (PTI) Chandigarh University defended their overall championship crown at the Khelo India University Games, finishing their campaign with 67 medals, comprising 42 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze. Olympian and India’s top swimmer Srihari Nataraj was the most successful athlete of KIUG 2025 as he ended with nine gold and two silver medals to help Bengaluru's Jain University clinch a total of 27 gold, nine silver and nine bronze.

Chandigarh University won 23 out of the 30 gold medals on offer in Canoe and Kayaking, a sports discipline which made its debut at the KIUG, six in swimming and five in athletics, two in wrestling and one each in weightlifting, shooting, cycling, archery, table tennis and kabaddi.

Lovely Professional University (LPU) finished their KIUG campaign as the runner-up with 78 medals, 11 medals more than the champions, but with less number of gold medals. LPU took home 32 golds, 25 silver and 22 bronze.

Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) also finished with 32 gold medals but their tally of 22 silver and 18 bronze meant that they had to settle for the third spot.

The fifth edition of KIUG was being held across seven cities in Rajasthan with a whopping 4448 athletes from 222 Universities competing in 23 medal disciplines. The Games were held under the aegis of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in collaboration with the Rajasthan State Sports Council and is being hosted by Poornima University.

The Games also witnessed 12 new meet records being made in athletics, including two All India University records to underline the high quality of competition throughout the 12 days.

Two gold medals from athletes and one in basketball helped the second edition champions finish in fourth place in the medals tally. With 28 gold medals on offer on the final day, including 24 in boxing, the fight for the second spot was clearly between LPU and GNDU.

LPU ultimately won the race as they captured two gold medals in boxing and one in kabaddi on the final day.

Guru Kashi University (GKU) topped the standings in the boxing competition at Bharatpur’s Lohagarh Indoor Stadium on Friday, winning four gold, three silver and five bronze and jumped to fifth position in the overall standings with 15 gold, 15 silver and 18 bronze. PTI KHS KHS PDS PDS