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Shweta Brahmachari won West Bengal’s only gold medal at the inaugural Khelo India Water Sports Festival (KIWSF) that concluded at the iconic Dal Lake in Srinagar on Saturday with Madhya Pradesh topping the medal tally. Odisha and Kerala finished in the top three largely due to the contribution of athletes who train at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centres in Jatpur and Alappuzha.
Three rowers represented West Bengal in the KIWSF 2025 of which Shweta, 26, emerged the lone medalist from the two events – men’s double scull and women’s single scull — that Bengal qualified.
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Shweta has been rowing consistently for the last 13 years and has plenty of national medals to her name. Her recent performance includes a bronze in Mixed Pair event at the Asian Indoor Rowing Championship in Pattaya in May 2025 with Pratik Gupta. She has been a consistent performer in women’s single scull and has won medals in National Games, Khelo India University Games, etc.
Supported by her state, the West Bengal Rowing Association, and her club, The Lake Club, Shweta hailed the KIWSF initiative saying, “The Khelo India Water Sports Festival is a good initiative. We need more domestic competitions for youngsters to get better.”
“We have a lot of talent and experienced coaches. My gold medal is a return for all the hard work I have been putting in and I hope it inspires the youngsters to take up rowing as a sport in West Bengal,” she added.
MP athletes dominate KIWSF 2025 medal tally
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh, who won all the four kayaking and canoeing gold at stake on Day 2, added six more gold medals on the final day on Saturday to win the team championship with a handsome tally of 18 medals. This included three silvers and five bronze medals. Twenty-four gold medals were at stake in the entire Water Games. Fourteen were in kayaking and canoeing and 10 in rowing. All races were Olympic events.
Odisha and Kerala profited from SAI training centres in Jagatpur and Alappuzha. Twenty-one Khelo India Athletes, all from rowing, took part in the Khelo India Water Sports Festival. They won two gold medals, two silvers and as many bronze medals in the 10 rowing events.
The performance of kayakers and canoeists who train at the five SAI centres across India excelled as well. Forty-seven SAI athletes won five golds, seven silvers and three bronze medals. Jagatpur, which had 15 athletes and many from Manipur at KIWSF 2025, was the best with three golds and five silvers. Odisha’s Rasmita Sahoo was a standout athlete with two gold medals. Dally Bishnoi of MP was another.
Jammu and Kashmir did well as hosts. Mohsin Ali won the first gold medal of the Games in the 1000-metres men’s Kayaking event. It was a career highlight for the youngster. Two more youngsters Sajad Hussain and Muhammad Hussain, who train under SAI coach Zulfkar Ali Bhat at the Nehru Park centre at Dal Lake, added a medal each. J&K finished seventh with a gold, a silver and a bronze.
There was a lot of focus on Shikha Chauhan, Reena Sen and Pallavi Jagtab. Fresh from the historic silver medal at the Asian Canoe Slalom Championship in Guizhou, China, all three finished among the medals on the final day. Shikha won the kayaking singles slalom gold and Pallavi finished No. 1 in the canoeing singles where Reena (Uttarakhand) finished third. Shikha and Pallavi train in the state water sports facility in the Lower Lake in Bhopal.
The emerging talent in water sports was noticed in Khelo India Water Sports Festival. There were some upsets too.
Tokyo Olympian and Army rower Arjun Lal Jat, representing Delhi, was relegated to silver by Odisha’s Aviraj in the men’s single scull over a distance of 1000 metres. Aviraj (03.37.54 seconds) won a tight race against Jat (03.28.68 sec). Shweta Brahmachari of West Bengal won the women’s version of the race clocking 04.00.86 seconds.
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