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Bihar middle-school teacher Ravi Roshan earned rich dividends for his splendid effort of bringing his students to the IIM Campus to watch the Gatka competition in the Khelo India Youth Games 2025 Bihar.
The reward for the teacher and his students came in the form of a silver and four bronze of the home athletes. Anshu claimed a silver in girls Single Soti (wooden stick) behind Punjab's Tamanna (Punjab) while Akash Kumar Sharma (boys Farri Soti), Komal Jain (girls Farri Soti) and the Bihar boys and girls Farri Soti (Stick and Shield) teams made it to the podium in a testimony not only to Bihar's bid to promote a range of sport but also the growing reach of the martial art from Punjab, as pe the SAI press release. Ravi Roshan attempted to bring his students closer to indigenous sports. "They have been here a couple of days and there is an urge to embrace Gatka and Mallakhamb," he said. "This is the first time Bihar is hosting KIYG. It will help sports immeasurably in the long run. I was hoping Bihar would get at least one medal in Gatka and I am delighted it was five," he said. Jainab Parveen, an eight standard student, summed up the influence of KIYG on Bihar in just a sentence. "After watching Gatka, I feel like taking up a wooden stick and participate in the sport myself," she said, inspired by the Bihar athletes and those from the traditional strongholds of Chandigarh, Punjab and Delhi. The proceedings gathered steam when school children marched into the venue and energised the venue, shouting encouragement. Maharashtra coach Arti Chaudhary, whose contingent won its first-ever Gatka medal in KIYG through the girls' team, said the athletes adapted to the sport from Mardani, a sport dominant in Maharashtra. Gatka is one of the indigenous sports that has the support of the Central Government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has discussed the importance of embracing the traditional sports like Gatka, Mallakhamb, Kalaripayattu and Thang Ta. Gatka goes back hundreds of years and is deeply rooted in the Sikh religion. Results Boys Single Soti: 1. Gursewak Singh (Punjab), 2. Ashandeep Singh (Punjab); 3. Gagandeep Singh (Delhi) and Mandeep Singh (Haryana) Farri Soti: 1. Bhupinderjit Singh (Chandigarh), 2. Jagdeep Singh (Punjab), 3. Amitoj Singh Dassan (Chhattisgarh) and Akash Kumar Sharma (Bihar). Team Farri Soti: 1. Chandigarh (Baljeet Singh); 2. Punjab, 3. Jharkhand and Bihar Girls Single Soti: 1. Tamanna (Punjab), 2. Anshu (Bihar), 3. Arshpreet Kaur Saggu (Madhya Pradesh) and Avneet Kaur (Punjab). Farri Soti: 1. Jasmeet Kaur (Delhi), 2. Jashandeep Kaur (Chandigarh), 3. Komal Jain (Bihar) and Sonu Kaur (Punjab). Team Farri Soti: 1. Jharkhand (Kajal Kumari, Sakshi Srivastava, Zeba Naaz); 2. Maharashtra, 3. Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. (ANI)
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