Bengaluru, April 29: Guru Nanak Dev University’s Chingakham Jetlee Singh lived up to her billing in the men’s épée, beating teammate Shubham to claim gold in the fencing competition at the Khelo India University Games (KIUG) 2021 here on Friday. .
Jetlee, a TOPS athlete, was one of four GNDU medalists, the most of all, in fencing on Friday. Jetlee was one of the few he endured, on a day of surprises.
The biggest surprise came from the city’s SAI NCOE Center, where the shootings are taking place.
Sartaj Singh Tiwana of Lovely Professional University beat Olympian Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar in the men’s 50m3 position final to take gold. Tomar, representing Guru Nanak Dev University, was top of the pile at the end of qualifying.
With one eye on the big athletic extravaganza kicking off on Friday, a day of big action wrapped up at KIUG 2021 on Thursday. By the end of the day, 42 universities had won at least one gold while 92 had made their presence felt in the medal table.
In all, 13 medals were up for grabs in Thursday’s competition, with the action focused on the track, when fencing began at the games.
Archery stayed true to form, the curse of top rating looms large, and there were plenty of surprises on the menu. In the first knockout round of the men’s recurve, Lovely Professional University’s Aditya Choudhary, who had topped qualifying, bowed to Ch Charan Singh University’s Nishant.
It took the female recurve to break the curse courtesy of Ruma Biswas of Adamas University.
Biswas had topped the women’s qualification and worked her way through the knockouts with relative ease, before falling in the semi-finals to Bhavna of Guru Jambeshwar University.
As evening fell, along with a light shower over the city, the Kanteerva came to life as track and field athletes from over forty disciplines took to the warm-up track. Among them were some of the best young athletes in the country: the undoubted star, silver medalist in the Asian Games, Dutee Chand. In addition to Dutee, 400m sprinter Priya Mohan and long jumper Ancy Sojan also participated in their respective events.
“Many of the athletes participating in KIUG 2021 have great international exposure,” said Priya Mohan. “This is great for future athletes and competition, and it puts pressure on those who are experienced. It’s a great platform.” The competition will start early in the morning, with the two longest distance running events (men’s and women’s 10,000m) coming first. In total, 12 medals will be up for grabs throughout the day. The highlight will be the men’s and women’s 100 meters. Dutee Chand participates in the women’s 100 meter race.