“This is just a beautiful start”, says GKU skipper Rinku Sharma after winning gold at KIUG 2023.
On May 27, 2023 Guru Kashi University beat Chandigarh University in the finals of the mens Kabaddi event of the year. With this victory GKU finished their Kabaddi competition of Khelo India University Games 2023 on higher note by clinching the well deserved gold medal. After the victory GKU skipper and U Mumba defender Rinku Sharma spoke to the media.
Speaking about his career and his dream, Rinku revealed that he want to get selected in the Indian National Team and repersent his country on the biggest level. Rinku Sharma, 25, of Nanagaon village in Haryana’s Sonipat district, began playing kabaddi at the age of 12 and says, “Kabaddi is a religion in our village.” People in our village start learning kabaddi before going to school.”
Speaking about his inspiration for the game he said, “My inspiration came from watching the senior players in the Indian team. I come from a village where everyone loves kabaddi and to have grown up in a village watching players like Pardeep Narwal, Rajesh Narwal, and Joginder Narwal from close proximities only strengthened my belief in a career out of the sport.”
Rinku Sharma hails from a Village full of Kabaddi legends
Rinku was selected by U-Mumba for the eighth edition of the Pro-Kabaddi league, and his outstanding performance in the first season insured that the 25-year-old would join the ranks of his village’s other legends. Rinku’s ambition is to play for India and win international events for his country. He says, “This gold medal is a beautiful start to the busy season ahead for our sport. As a captain I am happy my team won the gold medal at the Khelo India University Games 2022 Uttar Pradesh, but in a personal capacity this was a great way to start the season.”
Notably, the Khelo India University Games (KIUG) is an inter-university meet in which participants from various institutes around the country compete for medals in a range of sporting activities. Around 4,000 athletes, all under-27, from 205 leading institutions across the country compete for 913 medals (276 gold, 276 silver, and 361 bronze) across 21 different sports at KIUG 2023. This year, rowing makes its KIUG debut. It is organised across four cities in Uttar Pradesh including Greater Noida, Lucknow, Varanasi and Gorakhpur.
