By Sunil Sonker
Mussoorie, 21 May: Under the aegis of Taekwondo Uttarakhand—an affiliate of the Taekwondo Federation of India—the 16th Uttarakhand State Taekwondo Championship witnessed a magnificent display of talent and prowess by athletes hailing from across the state. Approximately 250 athletes from various districts of Uttarakhand participated in the competition, engaging in fierce contests for medals.
The championship was inaugurated by Sandeep Saini, Secretary of Taekwondo Uttarakhand. Meanwhile, within the panel of judges, NIS Coach Ravindra Parmar served as the Chief Judge. He was joined by other judges, including Mahir Malhotra, Rinku Singh, Lavish, Saloni, Mohammad Ariz, and Ankush. The competition featured bouts across the Sub-Junior, Cadet, Junior, and Senior categories. In the Sub-Junior Boys’ category, gold medals were clinched by Triyaksh Saini (Dehradun) in the under-18 kg weight class, Atharva Kulshreshtha (Haridwar) in the 21 kg class, Aaransh Tailor (Haridwar) in the 23 kg class, and Vivaan Thapliyal (Dehradun) in the 29 kg class. Additionally, Vansh (Udham Singh Nagar) delivered a stellar performance by winning the gold medal in the 32 kg weight class. In the Girls’ category, Navika Tiwari and Hansika Dwivedi secured gold medals, while Aaradhya Tiwari, Priyanshi Bansal, Rishika Jain, Vanshika Subba, Trisha Gupta, and Oviya Prashar brought glory to their respective districts by winning silver and bronze medals in various categories.
Athletes in the Cadet and Junior categories also delivered powerful performances; Ayush Paliwal, Jayesh Rawat, Mayank, Ujjwal Rauthan, Raghav Rajput, and Yashvardhan Bisht secured medals across various weight classes. Meanwhile, in the senior category, Naman Saini proved his supremacy in the competition by winning a gold medal. Congratulating all the athletes, Amit Malhotra, President of Taekwondo Uttarakhand, remarked that the state’s players are consistently making their mark at the national level. He extended his best wishes for the athletes’ bright future. Secretary Sandeep Saini stated that the athletes had put in rigorous hard work over a long period, the results of which were evident in the competition. He added that the selected athletes would soon represent Uttarakhand in the national championship and bring glory to the state.
