Police personnel take part in the final of 4x400m hurdles at the 61st All India Police Athletics Championship on Friday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

The Border Security Force (BSF) emerged as the overall winner of the 61st All India Police Athletics Championship that concluded at Mithilesh Stadium in Patna on Friday.

The Punjab police team was declared runner-up of the five-day mega sports event that started on March 11.

The BSF won the championship trophy for the seventh consecutive year. Among the women teams, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was declared the winner.

The Punjab team was the runner-up.

The Punjab team was also selected as the winner for the State Police Team Championship, while the Kerala team was declared the runner-up. Kerala won the trophy for being the most disciplined team.

Anju Thomas of the Kerala team was adjudged the best women athlete, while her male counterpart D. George won the best athletes award.

Rajiv Jain, the additional director-general of the Intelligence Bureau, congratulated the Bihar police for hosting three major police sport events in a year.

“It’s a matter of pride for any state police to organise three major events of national-level in a year,” he added.

Speaking as the guest of honour on the occasion, Jain said such an event provided sportspersons in the central police organisations and the state police forces to show their talent and gain laurels for their respective groups they served.

He said 25 policemen, belonging to different central police organisations, have so far been honoured with Padma Shri awards and six others with Arjuna Awards.

In addition, two sportspersons associated with the central security forces were selected for Padma Vibhushan and 82 cops were given Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, he added.

Director-general of police Abhayanand and additional director-general of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) A.C. Verma gave away the prizes.

The organising secretary of the championship, Raveendra Sankaran, also spoke on the occasion.

The UP police team presented Malkham dance followed by the Khurkhi dance by the personnel of the Gurkha battalion of the Bihar Military Police.

The All India Police Athletics Championship was held in Bihar after a gap of 17 years. However, the Bihar police could not bag the top trophies this year.