Eight schools, six days, five disciplines, one trophy — and it stayed in Nagrota. Sainik School Nagrota was crowned overall champion of the All India Sainik Schools National Games (AISSNG) 2026 – Group 'A' when the meet it was hosting closed on Saturday, 5 September, with a march past and prize distribution on the school's own grounds off the Jammu–Srinagar highway.
The host side finished first in junior boys basketball, junior boys volleyball, junior girls basketball and the English debate, and backed that up with strong showings in athletics, according to Greater Kashmir's report of the closing ceremony. Royal International Residential School (RIRS), Fatehabad in Haryana took the runners-up spot and Sainik School Kunjpura, the Haryana school that won the last edition Nagrota hosted, finished third.
Who was in the field
Group 'A' is the northern cluster of the Sainik Schools Society's national games — the older Sainik Schools of J&K, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal plus the newer partner schools approved under the Sainik Schools Society's scheme, which now compete alongside them. The school's own event page lists the eight contingents this year:
- Sainik School Nagrota (J&K, hosts)
- Sainik School Kapurthala (Punjab)
- Sainik School Kunjpura (Haryana)
- Sainik School Sujanpur Tira (Himachal Pradesh)
- Royal International Residential School, Fatehabad (Haryana)
- Smt. Kesari Devi Lohia Jagram Public School, Lohar Majra, Kurukshetra (Haryana)
- Woods Park School, Hamirpur
- Dayanand Public School, Nabha (Punjab)
Cadets competed in basketball, volleyball, athletics, debate and quiz, in boys' and girls' sections and in two age bands — sub-junior (Classes VI–VIII) and junior (Classes IX–XI). That mix is the point of the format: a Sainik School games meet scores the debating table alongside the basketball court, which is why Nagrota's English debate win counted towards the overall title.
How the week ran
The games opened with Maj Gen Paramvir Singh Dagar, Chief of Staff of 16 Corps and chairman of the school's Local Board of Administration, as chief guest — a march past, an oath-taking ceremony, and a line from the general that "sports play a vital role in shaping confident, disciplined and resilient individuals". Principal Captain (IN) Shibu Devasia told the visiting contingents the school would "leave no stone unturned" to give them a well-organised week.
At the close on Saturday, Maj Gen Anupinder Bevli, Additional Director General of the NCC's J&K and Ladakh Directorate, handed out the prizes and, per Greater Kashmir, commended every school for its discipline and sporting spirit, framing sport as a builder of teamwork, resilience, leadership and character — the standard Sainik School vocabulary, but earned this time by a home win.
Two years in the making
Nagrota has hosted Group 'A' before, and the last time did not end this way. In August 2024 the school staged the same meet and finished runner-up to Sainik School Kunjpura, who topped the table with 108 points; Nagrota's consolation that year was the volleyball title, its second in a row. The 2025 edition moved to Sainik School Kapurthala in July, with seven schools taking part. Winning the whole thing at home in 2026, with Kunjpura pushed down to third, closes that loop.
The timing is not accidental either. On 8 August this year the school inaugurated new synthetic tennis, volleyball, basketball and badminton courts, opened by Lt Gen P K Mishra, General Officer Commanding of the White Knight Corps — a facilities upgrade that arrived a month before the school had to host four other Sainik Schools and their partners.
Why a school meet matters beyond the school
Sainik School Nagrota is the only Sainik School in J&K — a residential, CBSE-affiliated school on a 108-acre campus about 18 km from Jammu Tawi, founded on 22 August 1970 to prepare cadets for the National Defence Academy and the other services academies. Entry is through the All India Sainik Schools Entrance Examination (AISSEE), run by the National Testing Agency, at Class VI and Class IX, and the school now admits girls as well as boys.
For a Jammu family weighing that route, this result is a small but real data point: the school's sport programme — the part of Sainik School life that most directly mirrors the physical demands of the services selection process — has just beaten every comparable school in the northern group, on courts it only recently rebuilt. Nagrota sits next door to Khel Gaon, the J&K Sports Council's hub where nine free academies of excellence opened this summer; between the two, that stretch of the highway is quietly becoming the district's serious-sport address.
Sources: Greater Kashmir — Sainik School Nagrota crowned overall champion at AISSNG 2026 (6 Sept 2026); Sainik School Nagrota — All India Sainik Schools National Games 2026, Group 'A' (school's own event page); Kashmir Despatch — Sainik School Nagrota gets new tennis, volleyball, basketball and badminton courts (8 Aug 2026); Brighter Kashmir — AISSNG Group-A meet concludes at Sainik School Nagrota (Aug 2024 edition); The Tribune — Sainik School National Games open at Kapurthala (2025 edition); Sainik School Nagrota — official site.
