Khelo India University Games: Chandigarh University becomes Champions

Chandigarh University clinched the overall championships of the fourth Khelo India University Games with their boxers securing five gold, one silver and four bronze medals on the final day of competitions here on Thursday.

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

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

Lovely Professional University were a distant second with 20 gold, 14 silver and eight bronze medals while Guru Nanak Dev University finished third with 12 gold, 20 silver and 19 bronze.

Defending champions Panjab University came up with a late surge, winning five gold, two silver and three bronze medals from the boxing arena to finish fourth with a tally of 12 gold, 12 silver and 16 bronze.

Chandigarh University bagged seven gold from wrestling, eight from athletics, three each from weightlifting and swimming, two from fencing and one each from kabaddi, rugby, judo and badminton.

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.

Pratyasha 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 another swimmer, Xavier Michael D'souza who won four gold medals for Jain University.

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.