Bengaluru, April 27: Five game records and one national record were broken on day five at the Khelo India University Games 2021 here on Wednesday.
Day five at the 2021 Khelo India University Games (KIUG) offered 17 medals across five sports as Jain University tightened its hold on the top medal spot (G10, S4, B1) with 10 gold, four silver and one bronze.
At the end of the day, 63 universities had made their presence felt in the medal table and 29 had already achieved a gold. The day also ended the weightlifting, basketball and badminton competitions.
The most eye-catching performance of the day came from the weightlifting arena, where a new national record was set in the women’s +87kg category. MT Ann Mariya of Mangalore University decimated the competition to win gold. The 24-year-old lifted 129kg to break Manpreet Kaur’s clean and jerk record (128kg) set at the National Championships earlier this year.
Ann Mariya trains at the SAI National Center of Excellence in Bangalore. Although she failed to match her national record in the medley (231kg) at the National Championships, Mariya was delighted to have bettered her personal best in clean and jerk in Bangalore.
However, the day’s drama started early, in the pool as Anna University set a new KIUG gold road record in the men’s 4x100m medley. Anna University had lost the 4x100m freestyle to hosts Jain University and Danush Suresh subsequently promised that the result in the combination would be different. The battle did not disappoint.
Jain University, which had Srihari Nataraj and Siva Sridhar in its ranks, comfortably led the race to anchor. Anna University presenter Adhithya Dinesh took the lead with a powerful swim and brilliant spin. Adhithya had suffered a minor fracture to her back in January this year and was on bed rest for three weeks. KIUG 2021 has proven to be a remarkable comeback competition for him: yesterday he also won gold in the 50m butterfly.
Jain University also recorded their first golds outside the pool today, winning the men’s and women’s team events in badminton. UV Shankar, Director of Sports at the University, was ecstatic with the result and emphasized its importance to the hosts. “The girls had won bronze and the boys had finished fourth at All India Inter University, so we knew they had quality but there was added pressure,” he said. “They reacted to the pressure in the perfect way. They have made the University proud.” Two medals were available in mixed team events at the shooting range. Savitribai Phule Pune University won gold in the 10m Mixed Air Rifle, the duo of Rasika Kulve and Gajanan Khandagale edged out Manipal University’s Manini Kaushik and Yash Vardhan to take gold. Gajanan also has a bronze in the 10m individual air rifle.
Madras University won gold, its fourth at KIUG 2021, in women’s basketball, beating SRM University 65-48.
Archery kicked off today on the Jain Global campus, with four qualifying events on the schedule. A total of 22 recurve archers at KIUG 2021, 10 women, are Khelo India Scholars.
Aditya Choudhary (Lovely Professional University) shot 661 to lead the men’s recurve. Punjabi University, led by Sangampreet Bisla, spearheaded the Men’s Compound team. The Punjabi University women also topped the women’s recurve team.
Rani Durgavati Vishwavidhyalaya’s Muskan Kirar shot an impressive 692 to top the women’s composite and rise to the top of the table. Kirar is the highest ranked woman in the competition and suffered heartbreak last time in the quarters. Her teammate Raginee Markoo, who won silver in Bhubaneshwar, was sixth in qualifying (678).
37 medals will be up for grabs on the fifth day of the games. They will be in the men’s and women’s boxing, swimming and judo competitions.