Aditi Swami adds KIUG gold to her trophy cabinet

World champion archer Aditi Gopichand Swami, representing Shivaji University, continued her unbeaten run to claim gold in compound women’s individual event on day five of the Khelo India University Games (KIUG) on Friday.

In the pool, Olympian Srihari Nataraj and Bhavya Sachdeva helped Jain University of Bengaluru stamp their authority, ending the swimming campaign with 27 gold medals, after bagging seven gold medals out of nine events on the final day of swimming action.

Jain University sits atop the medal standings with 45 medals (27 gold, 9 silver and 9 bronze). Lovely Professional University is second with 22 gold and Guru Nanak Dev University third with 21 gold medals.

 The 19-year-old Aditi, who had won gold in all the Khelo India Youth Games she had entered, made an impressive KIUG debut by securing gold in the women’s compound individual event. In the individual final, Aditi defeated Taniparthi Chikitha of Lovely Professional University 147-143 to top the podium.

“The Khelo India Games provided me the platform to experience how top level competitions are held and that helped me immensely when I went for international competitions,” she told SAI Media.

“My form was a bit indifferent in the last few months and I was keen on performing well here as I am looking forward to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics where compound archery has also been included.”

Nataraj was the star of the final day at the SMS Swimming pool, winning the 100m freestyle gold with a time of 52.30s and 50m backstroke (26.53s), before joining his teammates in the 400m medley mixed relay to finish the Games with nine gold and two silver medals.

Guru Nanak Dev University cyclists dominated the track events, winning both the men and women team sprint gold medals, women’s team pursuit, while Barsarani Barik added the women’s 500m individual time trial title with a time of 00:38.535s, ahead of Mahatma Gandhi University’s Sanjana VS.

Meanwhile, in Bharatpur where the wrestling competitions are being held, Lovely Professional University, which had racked up six gold medals on the previous two days, had a modest outing on Friday as none of their wrestlers could win a gold medal.

Although they won three silver medals, the prized gold eluded them on the last day of the wrestling competition, much to their disappointment. Still, with six gold medals, they leave the wrestling event with most yellow metals and as the most successful university.

Among other important results on Friday, local institute, Dr KN Modi University picked up its second gold -- following Sagar’s gold in the men’s 97kg Greco-Roman category on day two — thanks to Khushi in the women’s 68kg freestyle.

Shalina Sayer Siddhi, representing Karnatak University, won a bronze medal in the women’s 57kg freestyle. The Siddis are of African descent and are living in India for centuries now. The fifth edition of KIUG 2025 is being held across seven cities in Rajasthan. A whopping 4448 athletes from 222 universities are competing in 23 medal disciplines.

The Games are being held under the aegis of the Sports Authority of India in collaboration with the Rajasthan State Sports Council and is being hosted by Poornima University. The 19-year-old Aditi made an impressive KIUG debut by securing gold in the women’s compound individual event