Manipur team champions in Khelo India Beach Games 2025; historic third finish for Nagaland

Diu [India], May 24 : After five states Manipur, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir ended the first Khelo India Beach Games 2025 with identical (five) gold medals each, silvers decided the top five positions in the Games that officially concluded on Saturday, a release said.

Manipur finished No. 1 for securing six silvers, one more than No. 2 Maharashtra and three more than No. 3 Nagaland. For the first time, Nagaland finished in the top three of a Khelo India event. Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir finished joint fourth with a silver each. Hosts Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (DNHDD), with four gold medals, finished seventh for having two silvers less than No. 6 Delhi.

The Khelo India Beach Games 2025 were largely decided by the number of golds awarded in pencak silat, an Indonesia martial form gaining popularity in many parts of India. Out of the 46 gold medals at stake in these Games, 28 were given in pencak silat. Four of Manipur's five golds came from pencak silat. Maharashtra won three, Nagaland four, J&K all five and hosts DNHDD all four came from pencak silat.

Friday night saw three of most popular finals in team games like beach volleyball, beach soccer and beach sepak-takraw. While Tamil Nadu spiked both the volleyball golds, there were some exciting moments in both soccer and sepak-takraw.

Nagaland women etched their names in history with a Khelo India Beach Games sepak takraw quad regu team gold on the Ghoghla Beach. The Nagaland women's team battled nerves, strong resistance and brought in their A-game to pip Haryana 2-1 in a thrilling women's quad final. The men's gold went to Delhi who beat Manipur 2-1.

"It was a very dramatic final. Haryana were playing so well but luck favoured us and we got the job done," a jubilant Kethosituo Sekhose, Chef de Mission of Nagaland, told SAI Media. "This team will now go prepare and hopefully some of them will get selected for India team. The overall performance for Nagaland has been very nice. Almost everyone got a medal," he added.

Two hundred and forty-nine took part in sepak-takraw.

The beach soccer program was a long draw one. One hundred and sixty-six players out of the 811 who competed in KIBG 2025, took part in beach soccer. Played under lights side by side at the beautiful Ghoghla Beach in front of hundreds of loud spectators on Friday night, both the matches in the men's and women's categories proved to be worthy of being finals.

Kerala men beat Goa 12-4 to clinch the gold. Muhseer Tkb and Rohith Yesudas scored four and three goals each, respectively. Kerala demonstrated how to play like a team. There wasn't a single player who didn't contribute in their own way, small or big.

In the women's final, Odisha defeated local favourites Gujarat 3-2 in a match where fortunes fluctuated. Odisha captain Jasoda Munda, who led her troops with great aplomb with two goals, was ecstatic after guiding Odisha to their first gold of the 2025 Khelo India Beach Games. "It's a moment of great pride for us to win our first gold here. In the match we started well but then the opponents figured out our positions and marked us very well. It was a close affair," said Jasoda.

Beach Soccer Results:

Men: Gold: Kerala, Silver: Goa, Bronze: Lakshadweep and Maharashtra

Women: Gold: Odisha, Silver: Gujarat, Bronze: Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh

Sepak Takaw Results

Quad Regu

Men: Gold: Delhi; Silver: Manipur; Bronze: Odisha, Bihar

Women: Gold: Nagaland; Silver: Haryana; Bronze: Uttar Pradesh, Odisha.

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