Raipur (Chhattisgarh), April 3 – Karnataka emerged as the overall champions, securing 23 gold medals, along with 8 silver and 7 bronze, at the inaugural Khelo India Tribal Games (KITG) 2026, which concluded in Raipur on Friday.
Odisha came in second with 21 gold, 15 silver, and 21 bronze medals. Odisha was the only team to achieve a half-century of medals, finishing with 57 medals. Jharkhand came in third with 16 gold, 8 silver, and 11 bronze medals.
Chhattisgarh finished ninth in the medal tally with 3 gold, 10 silver, and 6 bronze medals.
Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai praised the Chhattisgarh players for their impressive performance in the inaugural Khelo India Tribal Games (KITG) and announced cash prizes for all medal winners, as well as promising financial support for those who qualify for the Olympics.
“The individual gold medalists will receive a cash reward of Rs 2 lakh each, Rs 1.5 lakh for silver, and Rs 1 lakh for bronze. The teams that won championships will receive Rs 1 lakh, Rs 75,000, and Rs 50,000 for gold, silver, and bronze, respectively,” the Chief Minister announced at the colourful closing ceremony of KITG at the Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay auditorium here on Friday.
Siddharth Nagesh (men's shot put), Nikita (weightlifting), and the women's football team won the gold medals for the hosts, with the men's football team finishing with a silver after losing 0-1 to West Bengal in the final on Friday.
In total, 30 States and Union Territories participated in the inaugural Khelo India Tribal Games (KITG), which featured nearly 3800 participants competing in nine sports. A total of 106 gold medals were awarded across archery, athletics, football, hockey, swimming, weightlifting, and wrestling, while traditional sports like mallakhamb and kabaddi were demonstration sports.
Deputy Chief Minister Arun Sao, who also holds the Sports Ministry portfolio, lauded the Sports Authority of India and the state sports department for the successful conduct of the Games, and emphasized that the next edition would be even larger.
“This is the first time that Games of this scale were held in Chhattisgarh, and I must congratulate SAI, the sports department, and everyone involved in organizing these Games for their hard work and dedication. I also promise that the next edition of the Games will be organized on a much larger scale, and Chhattisgarh will set an example for everyone,” he added.
The 10-day sporting event took place across three cities in Chhattisgarh, and Karnataka led the medal count from the first day, dominating the swimming events with 15 gold, 5 silver, and 3 bronze medals. They also secured 5 gold medals in athletics and 3 in wrestling, ensuring that Odisha and Jharkhand could not catch up.
Karnataka’s Manikanta L was the most successful athlete of the Games with eight gold medals and one silver, while his teammate Dhoneesh N. won five gold and a silver in the swimming competition. Among the women’s competitors, Odisha swimmer Anjali Munda won five gold medals, and Meghanjali of Karnataka finished with four gold and two bronze medals.
Odisha was the only team to win at least one gold medal in all six sports disciplines, including eight in athletics and seven in swimming. Jharkhand, on the other hand, won nine gold medals in athletics, four in wrestling, and three in archery, in addition to winning at least one medal in the other three disciplines.
Besides football, there were four gold medals available in archery on the final day, and it was clear that Odisha, which was behind Karnataka on the gold medal count after the penultimate day's events, had no chance of catching up, as they could only have won two gold medals in archery.
Arjun Khara won one of them in the recurve men's individual, defeating his teammate Somanatha Hembram in the final, but the men's team lost to Jharkhand 4-6 in the final.
Komalika Bari then added another gold to Jharkhand’s tally when she defeated Gujarat’s Bhargavi Bhagora in the individual final. Nagaland won the women's team gold, defeating Jharkhand and finishing in 14th position with 2 gold, 2 silver, and 3 bronze medals.
A total of 25 states and Union Territories were represented in the medal tally, with 20 of them winning at least one gold medal, highlighting the wide range of talent across the country. Maharashtra finished fourth with 6 gold, 10 silver, and 4 bronze, while Arunachal Pradesh finished fifth with 6 gold, 1 silver, and 4 bronze medals.
RESULTS:
ARCHERY
Women
Recurve Individual: Gold – Komalika Bari (Jharkhand); Silver – Bhargavi Bhagora (Gujarat); Bronze – Ruovinuo Theunuo (Nagaland)
Recurve Team: Gold – Nagaland; Silver – Jharkhand; Bronze – Madhya Pradesh
Men
Recurve Individual: Gold – Arjun Khara (Odisha); Silver – Somanath Hembram (Odisha); Bronze – Pavan Parmar (Madhya Pradesh)
Recurve Team: Gold – Jharkhand; Silver – Odisha; Bronze – Meghalaya
FOOTBALL
Men: Gold – West Bengal; Silver – Chhattisgarh; Bronze – Arunachal Pradesh, Goa