The 38th National Games, coming hot on the heels of numbers 36 and 37, has seen some special performances. From the outrageous — Jagdish Vishwakarma standing in a Nataraja pose while lifting 193 kg over his head en-route gold — to the more regular sporting achievements, there have been stories and storylines aplenty across the past fortnight in Uttarakhand.
Here’s a look at the big talking points:
Sift Kaur Samra is back
Going into the Paris Olympics Sift Kaur Samra was considered one of the best Indian prospects for a medal. At the Games, though, the world record holder finished 31st (out of 32). It may have been her debut, but this kind of result has the potential to set an athlete back… and so when she rocked up to the 50m 3P competition at the National Games, all eyes were on her.
The pressure was ratcheted up when Ashi Chouksey broke Sift’s qualification national record by scoring an incredible 598/600. But come the final, Sift delivered, big time. Hitting 461.2 points, she won gold comfortably as she reminded the competition that she’s still the one to beat.
Sift would say after the event, “This feels like a comeback for me after the Olympics. I didn’t take a break and kept training, so winning gold today feels special.”
Shooting lives up to billing, throwing up surprises aplenty
Shooting really is the Olympic sport for India these days. Domestic competition is fierce, anyone can beat anyone, and they all shoot at exceptionally high levels.
Take for example the men’s 10m air pistol. In an event that featured 10m mixed team Olympic medalist Sarabjot Singh, a 15-year-old from Karnataka was the star. Jonathan Antony remained calm as his more illustrious opponents heaped the pressure on and took home gold. (P.S. a certain Saurabh Chaudhary finished 9th in qualification, just outside the places that made it to the final). After the match, Jonathan simply said. “Today was my day.”
And that wasn’t all — In the 10m women’s pistol, 19-year-old Suruchi followed up her 7-gold exploits at the shooting nationals to take gold ahead of much bigger names (Suruchi also took home the 10m mixed team gold). In the 50m 3P men’s Olympic medalist Swapnil Kusale and multiple international medalist Aishwary Pratap Tomar were upstaged by Navy shooter Niraj Kumar. 23-year-old Narmada Raju smashed the national record en-route taking 10m air rifle gold, beating out the likes of Ramita and Elavenil Valarivan. In the men’s 10m rifle event 17-year-old junior world champion Parth Mane beat former world champion Rudrankksh Patil to take gold.
Jyothi Yarraji reigns supreme, and so do Animesh Kujur and Odisha
Another event, another record for Jyothi Yarraji. The Andhra Pradesh athlete broke her own meet record as she won gold in the 100m hurdles (13.10s), before turning up for the 200m sprint and winning that too in 23.35s (a time fast enough to meet the entry standard for the Asian Athletics Championships).
Odisha, though, underlined their dominance on the track mainly through Animesh Kujur who took gold in the 100m (games record of 10.28s) and 200m before he took a third in the 4x100m relay as his Odisha team smashed the meet record (39.47s) en-route gold. Bapi Hansda added to Odisha’s sheen with a stunning gold in the men’s 400m on National Games debut.
Karnataka rule the pool
We already knew Dhinidhi Desinghu was special – it’s not often that a 14-year-old Indian swimmer goes to the Olympics – but this National Games has underlined it. She won 11 medals, 9 of them gold and broke three national records in the process (100m, 200m, 400m freestyle).
Fellow Olympian and Karnataka statemate Srihari Nataraj, meanwhile, won ‘just’ the 10 medals (9 gold) as the state continued to show the nation that there’s no one in their league right now.
Mukherjee ‘sisters’ help WB sweep TT team events
As a doubles pair, the Mukherjee ‘sisters’ – Ayhika and Sutirtha – have been in stellar form for quite a while now. They first rose to the national spotlight when they took down China at the Asian Games in 2023, and then firmed up their place with India’s first ever medal at the Asian Championships last year.
In Uttarakhand this past week, they were the lead singles players as their West Bengal women’s team beat Maharashtra in the final to take gold. In an identical final on the men’s side, WB beat Maharashtra 3-0 to sweep the TT team events.
Lovlina lives up to billing
In her first competitive outing since the Paris Olympics, Lovlina Borgohain won gold in the women’s 75kg with a display of quiet dominance. Easily the biggest name in the competition, Lovlina would have been under pressure to prove she’s still #1 and did that with the minimum of fuss, as the 5-0 scoreline in the final indicates. That pressure, though, proved a bit too much for fellow Olympian Shiva Thapa, who was beaten 4-3 by Services’ Vanshaj in the men’s 63.5kg final.
Elsewhere, junior world champ Ankushita Boro won the women’s 66kg gold – it was her third consecutive gold at the National Games. CWG bronze medalist Jaismine Lamboria won the women’s 60kg division.
In football, an old giant resurfaces, a newbie breaks out
Kerala beat hosts Uttarakhand 1-0 to win their first men’s football gold in 28 years as the state continues its rise in the domestic footballing scene. The gold marks steady progress for a team that won silver in the 2022 Games and bronze in 2023 and properly heralds the end of a heavy barren spell from 1997 (when they last won gold) to 2022 where Kerala didn’t even make the semis across six National Games. Oh, they’re back.
Meanwhile, Haryana won women’s gold for the first ever time with a penalty shootout win over defending champs Odisha (4-2 in pens after a 0-0). This the state’s first ever gold at a national competition of note having finished runners up in the national football championships (last two years) and highlights just how rapid their improvement has been.
Another big story was Manipur failing to make the semis for the first time since the women’s football event was introduced in 1999.
Javelin, ahoy
Sachin Yadav underlined the strength and depth of Indian men’s javelin with a Games record breaking effort of 84.39m to take gold. With the international season not yet up and running… it’s also the best throw in the world this year.
Yadav’s 84.39m now ranks as the fifth career-best throw by an Indian after Chopra (89.94m), Jena (87.54m), Shivpal Singh (86.23m) and Davinder Singh Kang (84.57m).
Sachin Yadav shatters the #NationalGames record in Men’s Javelin Throw at the 38th National Games, elevating #IndianAthletics to new heights with a phenomenal performance��.
Take a bow, Sachin��#Athletics #Sports #IndianSports #Champion #RisingStar pic.twitter.com/rI735l9NQE
– SAI Media (@Media_SAI) February 12, 2025
Sachin’s been in stellar form for a while now. In June last year, he became just the tenth Indian to pass 82m when he won the Indian Grand Prix-3. The Uttar Pradesh policeman also hit a big 84.21m throw to win the All India Police Athletics Championships (unofficial, since it’s not recognized by World Athletics). This effort in Uttarakhand, though, shows that last year’s performances weren’t a flash in the pan, and gives us an intriguing question to keep track of this season… just how much farther can Sachin go?
