Bengaluru, April 28 (SocialNews.XYZ) Swimmer Siva Sridhar claimed seven gold and two silver medals as Jain University continued to dominate the pool in the Khelo India University Games 2021, here on Thursday.
The day also brought to a close the boxing and swimming competitions, as the focus slowly shifts to the athletics -- due to start on Saturday.
Thursday marked the final day of swimming and Jain University continued to dominate the pool, winning 14 gold medals across the competition. The host university's Siva Sridhar was the undoubted star, having won seven gold and two silver in the pool. His haul is more than that of the previous edition's most successful athletes (Siddhant Sejwal and Sadhvi Dhuri - five gold each).
With Siva claiming a rich haul of medals, Jain University continued to rule the medals table with 24 medals, 16 gold, five silver and three bronze medals. Panjab University was in second place with 27 medals -- nine of which were gold. The University of Mumbai with 16 medals -- six gold, six silver and four bronze. In all 40 different universities have already logged at least a gold medal, and 89 have bagged at least a medal at the event.
A deluge of upsets were served at the archery competition which kicked off at the Jain Global Campus on Thursday.
First to fall was Muskan Kirar of Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya in the compound women's singles. Kirar had topped the qualification round, but failed to get going in the duels, falling to the last-place qualifier, Sneh Rani of Guru Nanak Dev University 135-139. Rani was knocked out in the very next round by Punjabi University's Sujata.
Last year's silver medallist Raginee Markoo progressed through the competition steadily only to fall in the semi-finals. Kirar's teammate, Markoo lost to Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University's Madhura Dhamangaonkar 140-146.
The upsets rolled on in the men's compound too. Punjabi University's Kulwinder Singh and Sangampreet Bisla had finished first and second in the men's compound qualification yesterday.
But just like in the women's section though, the top seed, Kulwinder fell at the very first knockout round, losing to Shivaji University's Kunal Shinde 143-141. Bisla made it through the first round but fell to Guru Nanak Dev University's Hritik Sharma via shoot-off in the very next round. Both archers had shot 144, and 9 in the shoot-off. Hritik won based on his arrow being closer to the centre.
Hritik said he was using the Khelo India University Games experience as a launchpad for his season. "I'll go to the Jr Nationals after this so it was crucial I put up a good show here," he said.
"No matter the opponent, this sport is about your own mental strength, your performance. And you have to look inward. Today was the same. I made some mistakes, which I need to work on." Hritik was beaten in the semis by Delhi University's Tanishdeep Singh.
25 boxing medals (12 women, 13 men) were decided on Thursday, concluding an exciting event.
In the women's competition, 26 different universities won a medal, with eleven universities winning gold in the 12 weight categories -- Ch Ranbir Singh University is the only one winning two gold medals, in the 48-50kg and 60-63kg weight categories.
Five of the eleven universities that won medals in boxing were from Haryana. The men's event was no different, with 11 universities dividing up the 13 categories -- Lovely Professional University bagged three gold medals.
There will be ten medals up for grabs on Day six at the games, six in Judo and four from shooting.
Source: IANS
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