At the end of Sunday's events, 132 gold medals had been decided with Tamil Nadu and Haryana jointly leading the charts with 24 golds each. Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh followed with 17 and 16 gold medals, respectively
Punjab powerlifter Jaspreet Kaur grabbed a share of the spotlight with two 'special' archers as she bettered her own the national record in 45kg category to win the gold on the fourth day of the Khelo India Para Games (KIPG) on Sunday. (More Sports News)
The 31-year-old Kaur lifted 101kg to become the first athlete in KIPG 2025 to break the national record.
Manish, too, lifted 166 kg, to set a new national record in 54 kg category.
At the end of Sunday's events, 132 gold medals had been decided with Tamil Nadu and Haryana jointly leading the charts with 24 golds each. Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh followed with 17 and 16 gold medals, respectively.
Kaur, who had also won the gold medal in the same event in the 2023 edition, broke her own previous national record of 100kg.
“I wanted to perform even better this time around. Shattering a national record has also helped me climb up the national rankings,” she told SAI Media.
Lifting 16kg more in less than two years was no easy feat. Kaur went through intense training, researched various new techniques, and made changes to her diet to retain fitness.
But the biggest challenge to surpass was dealing with the anxiety issues.
“I made my debut in 2022 at the nationals. So, I always felt I was quite new to the sport. It took me a while to realise that to develop strength and muscle, it would take time.
"It does not happen overnight. It took me three years to deliver such performances,” said Kaur, who had polio at the age of three.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir's armless archer and Paralympics medallist Sheetal Devi edged out quadruple amputee Payal Nag of Odisha to win the gold in a much-anticipated compound open category clash.
In the battle between two teenagers, defending champion Sheetal came from behind to successfully bag her second gold medal of the Games.
Pitted against the 17-year-old Payal, Sheetal, 18, triumphed 109-103 in their compound archery open final match.
Payal doesn't have all the four limbs as she lost them due to electrocution when she was a child, and she shoots with prosthetic legs.
The sunny conditions at the national capital didn't deter the competitive spirit of the archers as 40-year-old Rakesh Kumar and the 30-year-old Jyoti Baliyan also won gold medals in their respective events.
Jharkhand's Vijay Sundi beat Haryana's Vikas Bhakar 6-4 in the men's recurve open gold medal match while Haryana's Pooja won the women's recurve open gold beating Maharashtra's Rajshri Rathod 6-4.
The 44-year-old para archer Adil Mohammed Nazir Ansari of Maharashtra, who had won the gold medal in the Khelo India Para Games in 2023, defended his title in the W1 round men's event, defying his age.
At Karni Singh Shooting Range, Sumedha Pathak of Uttar Pradesh caused a major upset in the women's 10m air pistol SH1 category as she defeated the 2024 Paralympics medallist and tournament favourite Rubina Francis to claim the gold medal.
Maharashtra's Sagar Balasaheb Katale also claimed the top prize in mixed 10m air rifle prone SH2 category, defeating Tokyo Paralympian Swaroop Mahavir Unhalkar, who settled for silver.
At the end of Day 4, Tamil Nadu led the medal tally with 22 gold. Haryana stood second with 18 gold while Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan followed with 13 gold medals each.