Raipur, Karnataka emerged the overall champions with 23 gold medals in the inaugural Khelo India Tribal Games where former world junior champion Komalika Bari’s recurve women’s archery gold for Jharkhand was the highlight of the final day proceedings here.
Odisha’s Arjun Khara won the recurve men’s category but these efforts were not enough for the chasing pack to dislodge Karnataka from the top of the tally.
Thirty states and union territories participated in the inaugural edition of the Games that featured close to 3800 participants in nine disciplines.
A whopping 106 gold medals were on offer across archery, athletics, football, hockey, swimming, weightlifting and wrestling while traditional sports like mallakhamb and kabaddi were demonstration sports.
In addition to 23 gold, Karnataka picked up eight silver and seven bronze medals to clinch the overall champions crown with Odisha finishing second with 21 gold, 15 silver and 21 bronze medals.
Odisha were the only contingent to cross a half century of medals, finishing with 57 medals. Jharkhand were third with 16 gold, eight silver and 11 bronze.
Hosts Chhattisgarh also gave a strong performance with three gold, 10 silver and six bronze medals to finish ninth.
Overall champions Karnataka led the medals tally from the opening day as they dominated the swimming events, winning 15 gold, five silver and three bronze medals. They added five gold in athletics and three in wrestling to ensure that neither Odisha nor Jharkhand could catch up with them.
Karnataka’s Manikanta L was the most successful athlete of the Games with eight gold and one silver while his teammate Dhoneesh N bagged five gold and a silver for his effort in the swimming competition.
Among the women competitors, Odisha swimmer Anjali Munda clinched five gold medals while Meghanjali of Karnataka finished with four gold and two bronze medals.
Odisha was the only contingent to have won at least one gold medal in all the six sports disciplines, including eight in athletics and seven in swimming.
A total of 25 states and union territories found a place on the medals tally with 20 of them winning at least one gold medal. Maharashtra finished fourth with six gold, 10 silver and four bronze medals while Arunachal Pradesh completed the top five with six gold, one silver and four bronze.
