Khelo India: Punjabi University's Ishneet Aulakh wins gold

PTI

Bengaluru, April 25

Patiala’s Punjabi University, the overall winners at the 2020 Khelo India University Games (KIUG), won their first gold of this edition through Ishneet Aulakh in the women’s 25m individual pistol.

Aulakh and her team were beaten to silver in the team event by their state rivals Panjab University, Chandigarh.

Tokyo Olympian swimmer Srihari Nataraj clinched a gold medal in the 50 metres freestyle, clocking 23.23 seconds, on Day 2 of the KIUG.

The 21-year-old broke Mihir Ambre’s meet record timing of 23.78 seconds from the previous edition as he produced his fastest time in an individual race in the event.

Nataraj’s win added gloss to a dominant performance by the hosts Jain University, which soared to the top of the medal table with the help of four gold medals in swimming.

The swimming events also saw five new KIUG records.

At the end of the second day, 17 universities had already won a gold and as many as 41 had marked their presence on the medal table.

With 10 medals up for grabs in the swimming event, the first went to Savitribai Phule Pune University’s Shubham Dhaygude in the men’s 400m freestyle.

Soon, it was time for Jain University to shine as Siva Sridhar not only won gold but also in the process set a new KIUG record time of 2:05.43 in the 200m individual medley. Sridhar repeated the win-record double in the 100m backstroke later in the day.

In the day’s final event of the pool, Shivaji University’s Rujuta Khade broke another KIUG record in the women’s 50m freestyle with a time of 27.38 seconds.

She broke Sadhvi Dhuri’s mark from Bhubaneswar by nearly six-tenths of a second as Shivaji University sat second on the medal table with three gold, one silver and one bronze.

Maharshi Dayanand University won another gold medal in the women’s weightlifting with Sneha winning the 59kg class.

Juturi Koteswara Rao registered Krishna University’s first-ever gold at the KIUG in the women’s 73kg class. Rao had won the silver in the women’s 67kg class in the last edition. —

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