Chandigarh, November 11, 2025: Punjab's Gatka players, with their excellent skills in the martial art, won the overall championship title of the prestigious 2nd Federation Gatka Cup. The Punjab team, which is excellent in traditional art, left an indelible mark on this annual tournament organized at the Bengaluru City University campus during its performance.
The fast-paced Gatka players of Haryana, displayed a tremendous game and secured a commendable place as the overall runner-up in these competitions. The final match of Gatka-Soti (individual) played between Punjab and Haryana was so interesting that even during the extra time, the players remained equal and had to be decided by the 'sudden death' rule.
The two-day competition was held along with other National Cultural Pythian Games. The Gatka players kept a constant vigil to score points in every match and were not missing any opportunity to attack their opponents with their skillful Gatka techniques.
The Gatka players of Punjab maintained their complete dominance to win the top honour in the boys' category. On the other hand, the girls of Haryana defeated the girls of Punjab by winning the championship title in their category with their Gatka-soti skills and with the parallel enthusiasm they gathered to be victorious. Very tight and fast competitions were witnessed for the remaining places during the championship.
The boys of Haryana and the girls of Punjab were the runners-up in their respective categories. The youth of Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh settled for the third place and shared the bronze medals. Similarly, the girls of Chandigarh and Andhra Pradesh also jointly secured the third place.
The championship was inaugurated by Bijendra Goel, Chairman, Pythian Council of India. The semi-final matches were started by B.H. Anil Kumar, IAS, Chairman, Pythian Games Organizing Committee. On the last day, the fights of TC's Gatka players were started by Advocate Harjit Singh Grewal, Former Additional Director, President, National Gatka Association of India.
The Vice-Chairman of the International Sikh Martial Arts Council, Sukhchain Singh Kalsani, Jaspreet Singh Saini, Jagdish Singh, Arthi Diwan, Srijit Surendra and Coach Venugopal Veloli (Bengaluru) were present on the occasion of these competitions. Throughout the championship, Harnam Singh, Harsimran Singh, Amritpal Singh, Jashanpreet Singh, Sherry Singh, Narinderpal Singh and Aman Singh Chhattisgarh provided technical and referee services during the Gatka matches without any pressure or discrimination, for which everyone appreciated.