Khelo India Youth Games 2023: 11 athletes set 15 new youth national records
Weightlifting saw nine new records being set followed by four in athletics and two in swimming.
The Khelo India Youth Games 2023 saw over 5000 athletes from across the nation converge in Madhya Pradesh from January 30 to February 11.
Maharashtra, with 56 gold medals and a total tally of 161, emerged as the winners of the KIYG 2023, the fifth edition of the Khelo India Youth Games. The KIYG is the flagship event under the government of India’s Khelo India initiative.
There were several instances of individual brilliance from athletes at KIYG 2023. A total of 15 national youth records were broken by 11 athletes across disciplines.
Weightlifting took centrestage with as many as nine youth records being shattered. Four records were broken in athletics and two in swimming.
Weightlifter Martina Devi, 16, who hails from Mirabai Chanu’s state of Manipur and Haryana’s Sanjana, also 16, shattered three records each in girls’ 81kg and girls’ 76kg weightlifting, respectively.
Martina Devi broke the previous youth national record of 86kg in snatch and set a new record of 88kg in the process. She also broke the youth national record of 108kg in clean and jerk with a lift of 111kg.
The Manipuri bettered the previous combined lift record of 191kg (snatch + clean and jerk) with a 199kg lift in girls’ 81kg.
Sanjana, in girls’ 76kg, set a new record of 83kg in snatch, 112kg in clean and jerk and 195kg in the combined lift. Both Martina Devi and Sanjana broke the records multiple times at KIYG, with each effort surpassing the last.
Swimmer Jasnoor Kaur, meanwhile, created a new national youth and junior record in girls' 50m freestyle in 26.92s. The previous record was 27.11 seconds.
The Games were held across eight Madhya Pradesh cities - Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Maheshwar, Balaghat, Mandla, Jabalpur and Gwalior. Only the track cycling events were held outside the state in the national capital New Delhi.