Shillong, Nov 15: Meghalaya capped off a remarkable performance in track and field on Tuesday by claiming the title of Overall Champions in the athletics events at the 2nd North East Olympic Games 2022.

Meghalaya finished with a stunning 15 gold medals, along with 9 silver and 17 bronze, for a total of 41, making athletics far and away the most successful discipline for the host state at NEOG 2022. It is worth noting that at the 1st NEOG in 2018 in Manipur, Meghalaya had won only 1 gold medal, making this performance, four years on, a truly stunning turnaround, a testament to the effort put in by the athletes, coaches, Meghalaya Government, Department of Sports and Youth Affairs, Meghalaya Athletics Association and other stakeholders.

Assam finished second with 12 gold, 6 silver and 2 bronze and Manipur were third with 10 gold, 14 silver and 9 bronze.

Nagaland collected 9 gold, 4 silver and 10 bronze, while Tripura picked up 2 gold, 7 silver and 7 bronze. Arunachal Pradesh won 1 medal in each category, while Sikkim take home 5 silver and 1 bronze and Mizoram 1 silver.

The triumph for Meghalaya means that they are just 2 gold medals away from third place Arunachal Pradesh in the NEOG 2022 medals table, as of 7pm on Tuesday. Arunachal currently lead 34 to 32. Assam hold onto first place but only just – they currently lead Manipur in terms of gold medals by 71 to 68.