NITK Surathkal Crowned Overall Champions Among All NITs for 2025-26 Sports Season

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Surathkal : The National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), Surathkal, achieved a historic milestone by securing the Overall Championship title among all NITs across India for the academic year 2025-26. Topping the All India Inter NIT (AIINIT) Sports Meet standings with an unprecedented total of 144 points—the highest tally recorded among participating institutions—NITK demonstrated dominant performances across athletics, team sports, racquet events, and strength disciplines. The institute clinched gold medals in men’s athletics, men’s kabaddi, women’s badminton, women’s volleyball, women’s Kho-Kho, and women’s swimming.

Highlighting the individual achievements, Akhil Banoth from Mechanical Engineering emerged as the standout performer by clinching three gold medals in the 200m, 400m, and 4x100m relay events at NIT Jalandhar. In the hammer throw event, Rohit V., a Ph.D. scholar in Physics, bagged gold with a impressive 41.60-metre throw and was honored with the “Most Powerful Man” title of the meet. Meanwhile, the NITK men’s kabaddi team clinched the championship title at NIT Delhi, where Veerendra M. was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

The institution’s female athletes displayed exceptional dominance, with both the women’s volleyball and Kho-Kho teams securing gold at NIT Rourkela. The women’s swimming team also bagged the overall championship at the same venue, led by Suvali P. Shetty, who earned the Best Swimmer award. Further strengthening NITK’s winning streak, the women’s badminton team claimed the AIINIT title with Manashree being declared the best player of the tournament, while the men’s table tennis team struck gold at NIT Jamshedpur, powered by Dilip G’s best player performance.

In chess competitions held at NIT Jalandhar, the NITK men’s team finished as runners-up, featuring gold-medal performance by Aaron Sanju Thomas on board one and silver by Ekansh Goel on board two, while the Vinitha M. Rao-led women’s team finished third, with Rao taking silver on board three. In power sports hosted at NIT Delhi, the weightlifting team secured third place overall with two gold and one bronze medal, whereas the bodybuilding team delivered a rich haul of three gold, one silver, and two bronze medals, with Hitesh Dagar winning the coveted Champion of Champions title. Additionally, the men’s handball team earned bronze at VNIT Nagpur with Tanishq Chopade and Vidyashankar H.R. claiming Man of the Match honors, while the NITK staff chess team placed fourth out of 25 institutes at NIT Jalandhar, where Shri Vignesh M. and Shri Rakesh Kumar won individual board medals.