Swimmer Shubhrant Patra clinched the men’s 200m butterfly gold with a dominating performance and then returned to help Jain University claim the 4x100m freestyle crown and top the medals standing in the 4th Khelo India University Games 2023, Ashtalakshmi, on February 20.
The competitions are being held in 18 venues across Guwahati and six other Northeastern cities.
Kalyani Saxena of Sarvajanik University, Surat and Danush S of Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences also added a second gold to their tally on the second day of swimming competition at the Dr Zakir Hussain Aquatic Complex as the race for the overall title heats up.
With 32 gold medals decided in two days of competition, Jain University topped the standings with four gold, one silver and two bronze medals while Utkal University are second thanks to three gold medals from swimmer Pratyasa Ray, who added the women’s 200m backstroke gold to her tally on February 20.
Patra, originally from Odisha but now trains and studies in Bengaluru, bagged the 200m butterfly gold with a timing of 2:06.94s, finishing over half a second ahead of Chandigarh University’s Harsh Saroha. Shubham Dhaygude of Savitribai Phule University clinched the bronze with a time of 2:11.18s.
He then returned to the pool for the 4x100m freestyle relay, swimming the third leg, as he teamed up with Xavier Dsouza, Dhyan Balakrishna and Sambhavv R to bag the gold with a time of 3:37.76s. Anna University (3:39.35s) and the University of Kerala (3:41.65s) bagged the silver and bronze respectively.
Earlier, Kalyani Saxena and Danush S proved that they were far ahead of the competition as they clinched the women’s 400m medley and men’s 50m breaststroke gold respectively.
On February 19, Kalyani won the women’s 200m breaststroke gold while Dhanush topped the men’s 200m breaststroke race.
In the basketball competition, the University of Madras will take on Jain University in the women’s final. In the semifinal, the team from Tamil Nadu hammered Guru Nanak Dev University 105-48, while Jain University got the better of Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science 85-61.
In the men’s category, Panjab University upset defending champions Jain University 89-87 to reach the final where they will face the University of Madras, who got the better of the University of Rajasthan 79-76.
In the weightlifting competition, being held in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, KIIT’s Sneha won the gold in the 55kg category with a total lift of 172kg with Punjabi University’s Ramandeep (165kg) and Kurukshetra University’s Shalu (159kg) taking home silver and bronze medals respectively.
The KIUG is a part of the Indian government’s Khelo India initiative that was launched in 2016. The Khelo India mission focuses on promoting grassroots sports and identifying young talents from across the country.
