Maharashtra lead medals tally ahead of Uttar Pradesh at Khelo India
The U-21 boys 5000m final saw a thrilling end as Assam won three medals through Upasha Talukdar.
The Khelo India Youth Games witnessed an enthralling second day with as many as three athletes winning four gold medals each and as many as seven meet records being shattered in the athletics field.
Maharashtra were the clear leaders of the field, winning 27 medals so far, with seven golds, eight silver and 12 bronze medals. The star for the contingent was gymnast Asmi Ankush Badale, who won four individual golds and a silver in the U-17 Girls category, only beaten by teammate Shreya Bhangale in the Clubs final.
Uttar Pradesh and Delhi both won 12 medals each, but the former occupied second place by virtue of winning six golds to Delhi’s five. Four of UP’s six golds came through gymnast Jatin Kumar Kanojia, who dominated the U-17 Boys category.
Gujarat, meanwhile, had four golds to their name to be placed fourth on the list, with three of them coming in judo. Their fourth gold was probably the most memorable event of the day.
The U-21 boys 5000m defending champion, Gujarat’s Ajeet Kumar Yadav, took things a little casually in the final, with Sunil Dawar almost pipping him to the line after a lung-bursting run. The event was so close that the photo finish camera had to be consulted before Ajeet was deemed the winner by a thousandth of a second, setting a new meet record of 14:39.99 in the process.
Tripura rounded off the top five with five medals in all, four of them golds won by gymnast Priyanka Dasgupta in the U-17 Girls category.
Assam wins three medals
The home state, Assam, won three medals, all courtesy gymnast Upasha Talukdar, who won one silver and two bronze in the U-17 Girls events. She was slightly fortunate to bag third place in the rhythmic gymnastics event though.
The tournament’s rules state that only two athletes from a particular state can win medals at an event, and both the gold and silver had been won by candidates from Maharashtra. So though Maitreyi Selukar and Nishka Chintamani were placed ahead of Talukdar, the fact that they represented Maharashtra meant that the bronze was handed to the local favourite.
Two clean sweeps
The day also witnessed two clean sweeps as Madhya Pradesh won all three medals at the U-17 Boys javelin throw final and Haryana repeated the feat in the U-21 Boys 400m final.
Madhya Pradesh’s Vivek Kumar led a sweep of the medals in U-17 Boys Javelin Throw with Rinku Yadav and Mohammed Arif Mansoor joining him on the podium. Similarly, Haryana dominated the U-21 Boys 400m with their sprinters Vikrant Panchal, Amit Balyan and Ayush Dabas storming to the medals. Panchal set a new meet record of 47.99 seconds.
New meet records
U-21 Boys 400m: Vikrant Panchal (Haryana) 47.99 seconds (New Meet Record. Old: 48.74, Adesh Garsha, Pune, 2019)
U21 Boys 5000m: Ajeet Kumar Yadav (Gujarat) 14:39.99 (New Meet Record. Old: 14:54.66, Ajeet Kumar Yadav, Pune, 2019)
U-21 Boys Javelin Throw: Yashvir Singh (Haryana) 75.59m (New Meet Record. Old: 67.84m, P Manu, Pune, 2019)
U-21 Girls 5000m: Ankita (Uttarakhand) 16:38.75 (New Meet Record. Old: 17:51.00, Poonam Sonune, Pune, 2019)
U-17 Boys 3000m: Arjun Waskale (Madhya Pradesh) 8:31:97 (New Meet Record. Old: 8:48.79, Vishal Makwana, Pune, 2019)
U-17 Boys Long Jump: Sohail Akhtar (Madhya Pradesh) 7.16m (New Meet Record. Old: 7.13m, P David, Pune, 2019)
U-17 Girls 3000m: Supriti Kachhap (Jharkhand) 10:00.02 (New Meet Record. Old: 10:03.25, Pune, 2019)