Punjab’s Jaspreet Kaur breaks powerlifting national record; TN keep lead

Sheetal Devi wins in Archery; In Shooting, Sumedha Pathak upsets Rubina Francis

Rakesh Thapliyal

New Delhi:The fourth day of the second edition of the Khelo India Para Games saw Punjab’s powerlifter Jaspreet Kaur grab the headlines. Jaspreet became the first athlete in KIPG 2025 to break a national record. In 45 kg category, the 31-year-old lifted 101 kg to claim the gold medal at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium complex on Sunday.

At the time of writing, 113 gold medals had been decided with Tamil Nadu leading the charts with 22 golds. Haryana stood second with 18 gold medals while Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan followed with 13 gold medals each.

Jaspreet broke her own national record of 100kg to set a new benchmark at the Khelo India Games 2025. In December 2023, she had also won the gold medal in the same event, with the heaviest lift of 85kg. “But I wanted to do perform even better this time around. Shattering a national record has also helped me climb up the national rankings,” she told Media.

Lifting 16kg more in less than a two years was no easy feat. Jaspreet 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 where 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,” Jaspreet, who had polio since the age of 3, further said.

At the other end of JLN Stadium, the archery events came to a conclusion with star para archer Sheetal Devi going past rival Payal Nag from Odisha to win the gold medal in compound women open category in a closely-contested final. The 44-year-old para archer Adil Mohammed Nazir Ansari from Maharashtra, who had won the gold medal in the Khelo India Para Games in December 2023, once again won the gold medal in W1 round men event, defying his age.

At Karni Singh Shooting Range, Sumedha Pathak from 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.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra’s Sagar Balasaheb Katale also claimed the top prize in MIXED 10m air rifle Prone SH2 category defeating Tokyo 2020 Paralympian Swaroop Mahavir Unhalkar, who settled for silver.

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Results: 

SHOOTING:

R3 – MIXED 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1

Gold: Sagar Balasaheb Katale (Maharashtra); Silver: Mona Agarwal (Rajasthan); Bronze: Deepak Saini (Haryana)

P2 – WOMEN’S 10m Air Pistol SH1

Gold: Sumedha Pathak (Uttar Pradesh); Silver: Rubina Francis (Madhya Pradesh); Bronze: Anita Kumari (Jammu & Kashmir)

R3 – MIXED 10m Air Rifle Prone SH2

Gold: Satya Janar (Telangana); Silver: Monika (Haryana); Bronze: Vijay Singh (Rajasthan)

 

ARCHERY:

Recurve Men Open

Gold – Vijay Sundi (Jharkhand); Silver – Vikas Bhakar (Haryana); Bronze – Dhanna Ram Godara (Rajasthan)

Recurve Women Open

Gold – Pooja (Haryana); Silver – Rajshri Dhanraj Rathod (Maharashtra); Bronze – Sukriti Singh (Jharkhand)

Compound Men Open

Gold – Shyam Sunder Swami (Rajasthan); Silver – Toman Kumar (Chhattisgarh); Bronze – Rakesh Kumar (Jammu & Kashmir)

Compound Women Open

Gold – Sheetal Devi (Jammu & Kashmir); Silver – Payal Nag (Odisha); Bronze – Jyoti (Uttar Pradesh)

W1 Round Men

Gold – Adil Mohd Nazir Ansari (Maharashtra); Silver – Naveen Dalal (Haryana); Bronze – Nuruddin (Delhi)

W2 Round Women

Gold – Swati Chaudhary (Uttar Pradesh); Silver – Shriya Joshi (Delhi); Bronze – Anjum Tanwar (Haryana)

 

POWERLIFTING

ELITE- 41 KG

Gold – Nayna Rabari (Gujrat); Silver – Shukla Bidkar (Maharatra); Bronze – Khusbhu (Haryana)

ELITE- 45 KG

Gold – JASPREET KAUR (Punjab); Silver – SONAM PATIL (Maharashtra); BRONZE- KAVIPRIYA RAJA (Tamil Nadu)

ELITE- 49 KG

GOLD – Parmjeet Kaur (Punjab); Silver – Shiv Prakash Yadav (Uttar Pradesh); Bronze – Mayabhai Bhammar (Gujarat)

 

ATHLETICS

MEN Javelin F12/F13

GOLD- Ishwar Rampal Tak (Maharashtra); SILVER- Manjeet (Haryana); BRONZE Akshay Kumar Meena (Rajasthan)

MEN Javelin F33/F34

GOLD- Arun Goel (Delhi); SILVER- Bharat Rawat (Madhya Pradesh); BRONZE- Dixitkumar Chaudhary (Gujarat)

MEN LONG JUMP T20

GOLD- Jeevanantham Thandapan (Tamil Nadu); SILVER- Shibin E S (Kerala); BRONZE- Ajil Xavier (Kerala)

MEN LONG JUMP T37/T38

GOLD-Anandharaj Murugan (Tamil Nadu); SILVER- Ramsungji Thakor (Gujarat); BRONZE- Samir Biswas (West Bengal)

WOMEN SHOT PUT F12/F20

GOLD-Khushboo Gill (Rajasthan); SILVER- Muthu Meena Vellasamy (Tamil Nadu); BRONZE- Ananya Bansal (Punjab)

WOMEN SHOT PUT F11

GOLD- Nidhi Mishra (Delhi); SILVER- Tamanna Sharma (Haryana); BRONZE- PALLAVI NEELAM (Andhra Pradesh)

WOMEN SHOT PUT F32

GOLD- Muskan (Haryana); SILVER- Durga Gahlot (Rajasthan); BRONZE- Banti Kanwar (Rajasthan)

MEN JAVELIN THROW F40/F41

GOLD- Lakshya Choudhary (Uttar Pradesh); SILVER- Ravi Rongali (Andhra Pradesh); BRONZE- Ritender (Delhi)

WOMEN DISCUSS THROW F57

GOLD- Suman Bala (Haryana); SILVER- Dropati (Rajasthan); BRONZE- Sadika Mir (Gujarat)

MEN 200m RUN T35

GOLD- Vipin (Uttar Pradesh); SILVER- Vinay (Haryana); BRONZE- Jatin Singh (Delhi)

MEN 200m RUN T37

GOLD- Rakesh Bhatt (Gujarat); SILVER- Dhawan (Delhi); BRONZE- Swastik Sahoo (Odisha).