15-year-old swimmer Anjali Munda from Odisha created history by winning the gold medal with her brilliant performance in the ‘Khelo India Tribal Games’ 2026. She became the first female gold medalist of this tournament.
Anjali’s story is very inspiring. In the year 2022, when she was in school, a sports teacher asked the children to choose a sport. Anjali chose swimming because she was somewhat familiar with it. At that time he had never taken professional training and for him swimming was just like playing in water.
Hailing from a small village in Jajpur district of Odisha, Anjali enrolled in Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences at the age of 10. Here tribal children get free education and living facilities. She was initially inspired by her elder sister, who does archery, but later made swimming her goal.
Initially Anjali felt lack of confidence, but after a year she won a silver medal in a local competition. This was his first medal, which boosted his morale. After this he worked hard continuously and did not look back.
In Khelo India Tribal Games 2026, Anjali won the gold medal in 200 meter freestyle with a timing of 2:39:02. If she had not achieved this victory, all the gold medals on the first day would have gone to the players of Karnataka.
15-year-old Anjali said, “The silver medal was the first medal of my life and it is very special. It gave me confidence that I can do well in this sport. I have to thank my coach for believing in me and the hard work he put in during my training sessions.”
Anjali also credits her success to the ASMITA League (Achieving Sports Milestones by Inspiring Women through Action). He had won two silver medals by participating in this league in 2024, which boosted his confidence. After this he also performed well in the swimming event held in Guwahati.
However, even after winning the gold, Anjali is not completely satisfied. She says that she wanted to surpass her personal best time of 2:25. Now his aim is to perform even better in the coming matches. Anjali also wants to perform well in the 50m backstroke, 100m backstroke and 200m individual medal competitions.
Uproar over Ram Navami celebrations in Jadavpur University, ABVP-Leftist students clash!
Comments are closed.