Race walker Rahul of Gharuan university sets new meet record

Race walker Rahul of Chandigarh University (CU), Ghauran, set a new meet record (NMR) to claim gold medal in the men’s 20km event at the Khelo India University Games (KIUG) in Rajasthan today. He clocked 1:25.43 to claim the top honour and surpass the old record of the university games set by A Singh (1:26.44) of Punjabi University, Patiala.

The CU, the winner of the last KIUG edition, clinched 11 gold medals, including seven in canoe and kayaking, on Tuesday to take their top medal tally to 22. Surbhi Rao of Chandigarh University clinched the women’s 10m air pistol gold with a total of 238.9. In women’s 1500m event, Nikita Sharma from the university bagged the gold medal by clocking 4:33.61s, while Amandeep Kaur of Panjab University bagged the third position in 4:39.36s. In the women’s javelin throw, Deepika of Ghauran-based university won the gold medal with a throw of 55.53m.

The men’s 4x400m mixed relay team of the PU won the gold medal by clocking 3:29.86s. In the women’s canoe and kayaking, Moirangthem Sophia Devi of the CU won gold in 5:18.636s, while Nikki of the PU won silver in 5:28.250s. In C2 event, the CU team won gold in 4:54.300s, and in K1 event, Pooja (CU) won gold in 4:40.852s and Kulsum (PU) won bronze in 4:47.375s. The K2 and K4 team events were won by the CU, while the PU team claimed silver. In the women’s 10m air pistol, CU’s Surbhi Rao won gold.

The men’s table tennis team of Chitkara University matches into the semis by defeating SRM University 3-1. The CU defeated Veer Narmad South Gujarat University 3-1. In the women’s event, the PU got the better of the University of Calcutta 3-2.

Hammer thrower Tanya Choudhary, a student of the Gharuan university, surpassed her own meet and all India university record to clinch the women’s gold medal. Hangzhou Asian Games participant, Tanya hurled the hammer to 64.29m to complete a hat-trick of KIUG medals. Tanya held the earlier KIUG meet record of 60.61m. Meanwhile, PU’s Haqikat Kaur Grewal took the silver with an effort of 51.90m, while Punjabi University’s Aman Deep Kaur’s throw of 45.06m bagged her bronze. “I was targeting the national record but things didn’t go as planned. I am happy to win my third consecutive KIUG gold,” said Haqikat.