PU bag six medals on opening day of Khelo India University Games

Panjab University players were off to a flying start on the opening day of the Khelo India University Games (KIUG) in Rajasthan. The university won a gold medal in judo, a silver in cycling, two silver medals in shooting and a bronze each in swimming and fencing.

Mehak Singh won gold medal in judo, while Keshav Kaushik and Yashkeerat Kaur bagged bronze in swimming and fencing, respectively.

The university shooters won a team silver in the 10m Air Rifle women event. The team of Disha Dhankar, Manya Mittal and Rashmeet Kaur scored a total of 1,878 to bag the silver medal. In individual women’s 10m Air Rifle event, Disha won silver with 252 points.

In cycling, Manav Sarda clinched the first gold medal for Maharaja Ganga Singh University in the men’s 40km individual time trial with a dominant performance throughout. Averaging a speed of 46 km/hr, Sarda stopped the clock at 00:52:12.947 while Jai Dogra of the PU (00:53:14.315) and Gaurang Singh Gaur of Lovely Professional University (00:54:32:813) bagged the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

In badminton, the PU men team entered the quarterfinals by recording a 3-0 win over Jadavpur University, West Bengal. Chandigarh University’s Rani Nayak won bronze medal in the weightlifting event with a total lift of 148kg.

After winning two editions of the KIUG, the 5th edition of the event is important for the PU in order to win the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy. As per 2024 directives, the winners of the KIUG will be adjudged as the MAKA Trophy champion. The university has won the 2020 and 2023 editions of the KIUG, and bagged the MAKA Trophy for three consecutive years from 2019 to 2021. However, the university kept on trailing afterwards. In the 2022 edition of the KIUG, the university finished third.

231-member contingent

The university is being represented by a 231-member contingent, which include 163 players. The university will have the highest number of (30) representatives in shooting, 27 in athletics, 10 in archery, seven in badminton, four in boxing, 12 in rugby, five in judo, 14 in volleyball, 24 in basketball, 10 in shooting, six in weightlifting, four in wrestling, 10 in swimming, six in yoga, four in tennis, five in table tennis and 30 in kayaking and canoeing.