How Did Cyclist Meenakshi Rohilla Achieve Four Gold Medals in KIUG 2025?
Synopsis
Key Takeaways
- Meenakshi Rohilla showcased outstanding skill with four golds.
- Guru Nanak Dev University excelled in the medal tally, finishing first.
- The event featured 4,448 athletes from 222 universities.
- Strategic racing played a crucial role in Meenakshi's success.
- Teammates contributed significantly to the overall medal count.
Jaipur, Nov 29 (NationPress) Meenakshi Rohilla of Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) concluded her participation with an impressive tally of four gold medals and one silver. She secured victory in the women's Scratch event while placing second behind Khoirom Rejiya Devi from the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology during the final cycling events of the Khelo India University Games 2025 held here on Saturday.
This year’s edition of KIUG 2025 is taking place across seven cities in Rajasthan. A remarkable total of 4,448 athletes from 222 universities are competing in 23 medal events. The Games are organized under the auspices of the Sports Authority of India in partnership with the Rajasthan State Sports Council and are hosted by Poornima University.
GNDU secured two additional gold medals in track cycling and three golds in Skeet Shooting, placing them at the pinnacle of the medal standings with a total of 27 gold, nine silver, and ten bronze.
Jain University, which led overnight, also amassed 27 gold and nine silver medals, but fell short by one bronze compared to GNDU. Lovely Professional University claimed third place with 22 gold medals.
Meenakshi, training at Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports (NSNIS) in Patiala, triumphed in both road events—the Time Trial and the 80km race—before aiding GNDU in winning the Team Pursuit title on the initial day of the track events.
On Saturday, the 23-year-old exhibited her tactical prowess during the Scratch race, holding back until the penultimate lap and surprising her two competitors by taking the inner line to seize the lead and the gold medal.
Later, in the 3km Individual Pursuit, Meenakshi (4:14.150s) put forth a valiant effort but could not surpass Rejiya Devi (4:12.798s) and had to settle for silver.
“I feel a bit disappointed that I wasn’t able to secure the fifth gold, especially since I hold the national record in this event. I tried to catch up in the final laps, but I had been racing for the past five days while she was relatively fresh, which made a difference,” she shared with SAI Media.
Despite missing out on gold in her final race, her teammates Niya Sebastian and Ritesh Kaushik clinched gold in the women’s and men’s 200m Sprint respectively, propelling GNDU to second place in the medal tally with 26 golds.
At the Jagatpura Shooting Range, GNDU's Skeet shooters Rituraj Singh Bundela and Shivani Raikwar won the mixed team gold by defeating Rabindranath Tagore University's Jyotiradiya Sisodiya and Vanshika Tiwari 44-40.
Rituraj also secured individual skeet gold and contributed to GNDU's men’s team gold.
Simranpreet Kaur Brar from Panjab University took home the women’s 25m Pistol gold with a score of 38. Delhi University's Parisha Gupta (32) and Tejaswini (30) followed with silver and bronze respectively.
In wrestling, which concluded on Saturday in Bikaner, Lovely Professional University topped the leaderboard with four gold and three silver medals, despite not winning any medals on the final day.
On Saturday, Shivani Yadav of Chandigarh University won gold in the women’s +86kg category with a total lift of 188kg, while Kesav Bissa from Maharshi Ganga Singh University won gold in the men’s +110kg, lifting a total of 352kg.
In Rugby, the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology achieved a remarkable feat by winning both men’s and women’s events. In the women’s final, KIIT overcame Chandigarh University 17-5, marking a hat-trick of titles. The men’s team secured their inaugural KIUG gold by edging out Chandigarh University 15-10 in overtime.
RESULTS
CYCLING
Women
Scratch: Gold – Meenakshi (GNDU) 28:06.164s; Silver – Aditi Dongare (SPPU) 28:06.613; Bronze – Himanshi Singh (Chandigarh University) 28:08.304s
200m sprint:
Gold – Niya Sebastian (GNDU); Silver – Santi Biswas (LPU); Bronze – Sayali Arande (Shivaji University)
Individual Pursuit 3 km: Gold – Khoirom Rejiya Devi (KIIT); Silver – Meenakshi (GNDU); Bronze – Khusbhu (LPU)
Men
Scratch: Gold – Pradeep Sankara K (Bharathidasan Uni) 19:14.790s; Silver – Frank Nelson (Uni of Kerala) 19:15.362s; Bronze – Adwaith Sankar SS (Uni of Kerala) 19:15.487s
200m sprint:
Gold – Ritesh Kaushik (GNDU); Silver – Mahendra Bishnoi (LPU); Bronze – Abhindu A (Uni of Kerala)
Individual Pursuit 4 km: Gold – Ravi Singh (Kurukshetra Uni); Silver – Parhalad Kumar (Chandigarh Uni); Bronze – Vasudev Bishnoi (LPU)
RUGBY
Women: Gold – Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology; Silver – Chandigarh University; Bronze – Lovely Professional University
Men: Gold – Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology; Silver – Chandigarh University; Bronze – University of Calicut
SHOOTING
Women
25m Pistol: Gold – Simranpreet Kaur Brar (PU) 38; Silver – Parisha Gupta (DU) 32; Bronze – Tejaswini (DU) 30
25m Pistol team: Gold – Panjab University 1684; Silver – University of Rajasthan 1652; Bronze – Kurukshetra University 1603
Skeet: Gold – Razia Dhillon (PU); Silver – Yashasvi Rathore (MU); Bronze – Karttiki Singh (BNU)
Skeet team: Gold – Rabindranath Tagore University 318; Silver – Guru Nanak Dev University 301
Men
Skeet: Gold – Rituraj Singh Bundela (GNDU) 58; Silver – Bhavtegh Singh Gill (PEC) 57; Bronze – Abhay Singh Sekhon (PBI) 44
Skeet Mixed team: Gold – Guru Nanak Dev University; Silver – Rabindranath Tagore University; Bronze – Rabindranath Tagore University
Skeet Team: Gold – Guru Nanak Dev University 336; Silver – Panjab University 317; Bronze – Rabindranath Tagore University 261
WEIGHTLIFTING
Women
+86kg: Gold – Shivani Yadav (CHU) 189kg; Silver – Swati Yadav (LPU) 188kg; Bronze – Ruchika Dhore (CHU) 183kg
Men
+110kg: Gold – Kesav Bissa (MGSU) 352kg; Silver – Vaishnav Thakur (SPPU) 343kg; Bronze – Sarth Jadhav (MU) 291kg