New Delhi: 

India’s Hillang Yajik made the nation proud by clinching a historic gold medal at the 15th South Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championships 2025 in Thimphu, Bhutan. Yajik won a gold medal and a bronze medal in two categories in the international event, which got underway on June 11 and is set to conclude on Sunday, June 15.

The Arunachal Bodybuilding Association (ABA) congratulated Yajik for her golden triumph. Nabam Tuna, the president of the association, called Yajik’s achievement a ‘notable one’ for her at the individual level and for India at the international level.

Yajik has been competing in physique sports for a number of years now and has achieved a lot of success at the national and international levels. In November 2022, she won a silver medal in the ‘model physique category’ at the 11th Eastern Zone National Senior, Masters, Divyang Men’s Bodybuilding, Men’s Sports Physique and Women’s Model Physique Championship 2022, which took place in Kolkata, West Bengal.

However, her latest gold medal feat at the South Asian Bodybuilding Championships in Bhutan is arguably the biggest achievement in her bodybuilding career so far and is expected to play a catalyst role in inspiring the next generation of physique athletes from her state.

Yajik, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, became the first female physique sports athlete to win a gold medal at an international event. She won the gold medal in the women’s model physique category (up to 155 cm) at the South Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championships, and a bronze medal in the women’s swimsuit physique category.

Yajik took to Instagram to express her emotions after her remarkable achievement and dedicated her historic gold medal to the nation and her state, Arunachal Pradesh. She also vowed to continue working harder to bag more international medals in bodybuilding in the future.

“Last year I failed to win any international medal.. though disheartened I didn’t give up.. I worked harder and gave my 110% this time. This medal I dedicate to my nation, my state Arunachal my coach @primeoptimus_123 and lastly to myself. P.s more championship are on the way,” she wrote on Instagram with pictures of her gold medal victory.

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