Four meet records broken in track and field in KIUG

Jaipur, Dec 2 (PTI) Four meet records tumbled in track and field, two from Chandigarh University athletes, even as Guru Nanak Dev University continued to lead the medal tally in the Khelo India University Games here on Tuesday.

Chandigarh University’s Rahul (men’s 20km race walk) and Deepika (women’s Javelin Throw), Ruchir Mori (men’s 400m hurdles) of Swarnim Gujarat Sports University, Lovely Professional University’s Pooja (Women’s High Jump) broke the KIUG meet record on second day of athletics competition.

Guru Nanak Dev University remained at the top of the medal tally with 31 gold. Chandigarh University, last edition's KIUG champions, clinched 11 gold medals, including seven in Canoe & Kayaking on Tuesday, to take their gold medal tally to 22.

Lovely Professional University also won two gold medals in athletics to consolidate their third spot with 23 gold medals.

In the morning session, Rahul led the 20km Race Walk event from start to end to stop the clock at 1 hour 25 minute 43 seconds, bettering the previous record of 1:26:44.00 set by Akshdeep Singh of Punjabi University back in 2022. Suraj Yadav of Jannayak Chandrashekhar University took the silver with a time of 1:30.06.50 while the other two competitors were disqualified.

Later in the day, Ruchir Mori of Swarnim Gujarat Sports University improved on the earlier 400m hurdles KIUG mark of 51.76 seconds held by Amarnath D of Rani Channamma by stopping the clock at 51.00. Since he was the only runner in the event, he was not awarded the gold medal, but his meet record will hold.

Jyoti then cleared a height of 1.77m to win the high jump gold, improving on the previous KIUG record of Gracena Merly by a metre. Khyati Mathur (1.71m) of Guru Kashi University bagged the silver while Giji George Stephen (1.68m) of Anna University won the bronze medal.

Deepika then joined the list of meet record breakers, hurling the javelin to a distance of 55.53m to clinch the gold medal. The earlier record was held by Jyoti of Chaudhary Devi Lal University with a distance of 53.16m.

At the Jagatpura Shooting Range, Surbhi Rao of Chandigarh University clinched the women’s 10m Air Pistol gold with a total of 238.9. Vani Kaushal of Manav Racha University bagged the silver with a score of 237.6 while the bronze went to Lakshita of Lovely Professional University with a score of 216.8.

“I am happy that I won gold today as this is my last time in the University Games. I am happy that I ended on a golden note,” Surbhi told SAI Media.

The men’s hockey final will be played between Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya and Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidhyapith after they registered identical victories in the semifinals.

Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya defeated Bengaluru City University 2-0 while Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith got the better of Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanchal University 2-0.

The fifth edition of KIUG is being held across seven cities in Rajasthan. A whopping 4448 athletes from 222 universities are competing in 23 medal disciplines.

The Games are being held under the aegis of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in collaboration with the Rajasthan State Sports Council and is being hosted by Poornima University. PTI PDS PDS UNG