RAIPUR (Chhattisgarh, India): Karnataka’s gold rush at the inaugural Khelo India Tribal Games (KITG) 2026 continued on Day 3 as it finished on top of the medals table with 13 gold, 5 silver and 1 bronze medals on Friday.
Except for a lone silver medal (in weightlifting), Karnataka’s entire haul came from swimming, an event in which the state has dominated since the opening day of the games.
Odisha holds second place with 6 gold medals, 2 silver and 9 bronze. Assam is placed third with 2 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze. Hosts Chhattisgarh are placed seventh with 3 silver and 3 bronze.
On Friday, Karnataka clinched the gold medal in five of the six events in swimming, even finishing 1-2 in one event, while not getting a podium finish in another.
Karnataka won the men’s 100 meters butterfly and 50 meters breaststroke (both Manikanta L) and 50 meters freestyle (Dhoneesh N), where Manikanta finished with the silver. Karnataka won the gold in the women’s 50 meters breaststroke and 50 meters freestyle (both Meghanjali).
Maharashtra won the gold in the women’s 100 meters butterfly (Tanvi Dhurve).
Weightlifting
In men’s weightlifting, Mizoram (Mh Silvan Beihrothatlo; 71 kg) and Arunachal Pradesh (Richin Chongruju; 79 kg) clinched a gold medal each. In women’s weightlifting, Arunachal Pradesh (Anaiwangshu; 58 kg) and Odisha (Bidu Smita Bhoi; 63 kg) won a gold medal each.
Football
Women’s football continued to see a flurry of goals, with two of the four matches of the group stage having the winners score 25 or more goals. In one match, Chhattisgarh beat Tamil Nadu 28-0 helped by a double hat-trick and three hat-tricks by their players and two own goals by their rivals. Kiran Pisda scored a double hat-trick (9th, 15th, 35th, 40th, 50th and 82nd). One player scored a haul, and three other players scored a hat-trick each.
In another match, Gujarat beat Andhra Pradesh 25-0, thanks to one glut, two hauls, two hat-tricks and one brace by its players, along with two own goals by their rivals.
In the other two matches, Jharkhand beat Assam 9-1, while Arunachal Pradesh beat Sikkim 5-0.
There were no matches in men’s football.
Hockey
In the league stage in men’s hockey, Goa beat Assam 7-3, Jharkhand blanked out Andhra Pradesh 19-1, Madhya Pradesh lost to Odisha 1-15, and Karnataka lost to Chhattisgarh 1-7.
In the league stage in women’s hockey, Jharkhand beat Gujarat 16-0, Madhya Pradesh beat Bihar 9-0, Odisha beat Tamil Nadu 14-0, Mizoram beat Chhattisgarh 3-1.
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