Raipur: Chhattisgarh has once again created history in the All India Forest Sports Competition. With a brilliant performance in the 28th All India Forest Sports Competition held in Dehradun, it has secured the first position in the medal tally. In this competition, Chhattisgarh has won the championship for the second consecutive year with 150 medals and 578 points. Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Dev Sai and Forest Minister Shri Kedar Kashyap congratulated all the players and teams who performed excellently in the competition and wished them to continue performing similarly in the future.

It is noteworthy that the 28th All India Forest Sports Meet was held in Dehradun from November 12th to 17th. Chhattisgarh secured first place in this competition by winning 74 gold, 34 silver, and 42 bronze medals. 253 members from Chhattisgarh participated in this competition. Chhattisgarh players also delivered several outstanding individual performances. Among them, Best Male Player Nikhil Zalko won 5 gold medals in swimming, Best Female Player Sangeeta Rajgopalan won 4 gold medals and 1 silver medal in badminton and tennis. Best Athlete Female Open Thota Sankirtana won 5 gold medals, earning her the title of "Golden Girl." Similarly, Best Athlete (Male Veteran) Sukhnandan Lal Dhruv won 5 gold medals, and Best Athlete (Female Veteran) Charulata Gajpal won 4 gold medals.

Chhattisgarh won the overall championship trophy for the 13th consecutive time. At the closing ceremony of this sports competition, Uttarakhand Governor Lieutenant General (Retired) Gurmeet Singh and Uttarakhand Forest Minister Mr. Subodh Uniyal jointly presented the overall championship trophy. Ms. Shalini Raina received the trophy on behalf of Chhattisgarh. Additional Chief Secretary Mrs. Richa Sharma and Forest Force Chief Mr. V. Srinivas Rao extended their congratulations and best wishes to all the players.

In the All India Forest Sports Competition, Kerala secured second place with 31 gold medals, while Karnataka secured third place with 25 gold medals. Host Uttarakhand finished sixth. A special initiative was also taken to connect this competition with environmental protection. Under this concept of "One Sport, One Forest," a tree was planted in the name of each medal winner, thus giving the players the message of nature conservation along with sports.