Grand ceremony brings KIUG to a close, Panjab University clinch championship in dramatic fashion

Bhubaneswar, March 1: The Khelo India University Games 2020 concluded here on Sunday with a simple but impressive closing ceremony, but not before Panjab University pipped Savitribai Phule Pune University with a last-gasp effort to be crowned champions of the inauguration edition.

Trailing by just one gold on the penultimate day, Panjab snatched the last two gold in boxing to topple Pune University, who could only manage one athletics gold on the final day. The two dominant universities ended up with 17 gold each. But Panjab University, with a total tally of 46 medals (19 silver, 10 bronze) as against Pune’s 37 (11 silver, 9 bronze), walked away with the coveted trophy. The second runners up trophy went to Punjabi University, Patiala with a total medal tally of 33 (13 gold, 6 silver, 14 bronze)

Attended by a host of dignitaries, led by Honourable Chief Minister of Odisha Shri Naveen Patnaik, Honourable Union Minister of Youth Affair and Sports Shri Kiren Rijiju, IOA President Dr. Narinder Dhruv Batra, Sports Minister of Odisha Tusharkanti Behera and Secretary General, AIU, Dr. Pankaj Mittal the closing ceremony fittingly celebrated the athletes and their triumphant universities.

"The first edition of the KIUG has been truly successful. All the participants have given their best and many of them have shown great potential,” Shri Kiren Rijuju said. “Our aim now is to organise the Khelo India University Games regularly and make it, along with the Youth Games, the platform that paves the way for our future Olympic medallists. Our aim is to get into the top 10 in the medals tally after the 2028 Olympics," he added.

Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik too expressed satisfaction in the way his state Odisha organised the Games. “I'm extremely glad that KIUG 2020 has been organised in such a smooth manner. I'm sure it will help young athletes in achieving great heights for the country,” he said.

Host university KIIT’s founder Shri Achyuta Samanta thanked everybody involved in making the Games a success and pointed out that they had less than two months to put everything in place and pull it off.

Earlier in the day, steeplechaser Komal Jagadale set a new All India Universities record with a time of 10:26.63 to give Savitribai Phule Pune University a two-gold medal lead.

But then, Sawan Gill secured a walk-over from Anik Verma in the 91kg final while Sagar won the +91kg gold, when Suryaveer Sehrawat (Chaudhary Charan Singh University) abandoned the bout after the opening round, to garner the bragging rights for Panjab University.

In other exciting events, KIIT’s Dutee Chand completed a sprint double while Guru Nanak Dev University edged out Kurukshetra University 33-31 in a tense men’s kabaddi final. The Amritsar team made light of the 16-21 deficit that stared them in their faces at the break.

By winning the heptathlon bronze medal behind Sonu Kumari (Lovely Professional University) and Sarmistha Halder (University of Calcutta), Akshatha of Karnataka State Law University ensured that a student of law would add to the diverse nature of medallists. With three swimming gold, student of medicine Damini Gowda led those from Health universities on the podium.

As many as 64 universities claimed at least one gold while 113 institutions went home with at least one medal after 10 days of competition. Swimmers Sadhvi Dhuri (Savitribai Phule Pune University) and Siddhant Sejwal (Panjab University) were the most successful athletes at the Games with five gold each.

The results (all finals)

Athletics

Men

200m: 1. Rahul Kumar (University of Madras) 21.42 seconds; 2. Akshay Annapa Shetty (University of Mumbai) 21.52; 3. A Vignesh (Mangalore University) 21.75.

3000m Steeplechase: 1. Atul Poonia (Maharaja Ganga Singh University) 9:11.26 (New All India Universities record. Old 9:15.08, H Singh, Mangalore University, 2018); 2. Sumit Gorai (Punjabi University) 9:16.07; 3. Prince Raj (Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education) 9:16.86.

Triple Jump: 1. AB Arun (Mahatma Gandhi University) 15.27m; 2. P Kapil Anand (Rajiv Gandhi University) 15.26; 3. A Vaisakh (University of Kerala) 15.10.

Hammer Throw: 1. Damneent Singh (Punjabi University) 61.25m; 2. S Nirmal Raj (University of Madras) 57.68; 3. Farook Ahmed (Prof. Rajendra Singh University) 46.46.

4x400m Relay: 1. Mahatma Gandhi University (T Tigin, Ananadu Vijayan, Amal Joseph and Anirudh) 3:15.45; 2. Lovely Professional University 3:16.69; 3. University of Kerala 3:20.32.

Women

200m: 1. Dutee Chand (Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology) 23.66 seconds; 2. Kirti Vijay Bhoite (University of Mumbai) 24.98; 3. Deepali Mahapatra (Utkal University) 25.19.

3000m Steeplechase: 1. Komal Chandrakant Jagadale (Savitribai Phule Pune University) 10:26.63 (New All India Universities record. Old: 10:34,.53. B Zamaji, Mangalore University); 2. Golla Maheshwari (Palamuru University) 10:41,90; 3. Shail Dhama (Punjabi University) 11:23.63.

High Jump: 1. SB Supriya (Mangalore University( 1.74m; 2. Gayathry Sivakumar (Mahatma Gandhi University) 1.71; 3. Rajeswari Das (University of Calicut) 1.68.

Triple Jump: 1. B Aishwarya (Mangalore University) 12.78m; 2. Niharika Vashisht (Panjab University) 12.71; 3. Anusha G Poojary (Mangalore University) 12.10.

Hammer Throw: 1. Varsha (Mangalore University) 51.80m; 2. Kulvinder Kaur (Maharaja Ganga Singh University) 51.75; Sneha Suryakant Jadhav (Shivaji University 51.67.

Heptathlon: 1. Sonu Kumari (Lovely Professional University) 4748 points (100mH: 15.61; HJ: 1.59; SP: 10.11; 200m: 27.38; LJ: 5.42; JT 40.24; 800m: 2:29.95); 2. Sarmistha Halder (University of Calcutta) 4245; 3. Akshatha (Karnataka State Law University) 4221.

4x400m Relay: 1. Mahatma Gandhi University (K Sneha, Anila Venu, PR Aleesha and KT Emily) 3:48.12; 2. Panjab University 3:55.45; 3. Anna University 4:14.49.

Boxing

Men

49kg class: Gurwinder Singh (Punjabi University) beat Harwinder Singh (Chandigarh University) 4-1. Bronze medals: Heli Tana Tara (Rajiv Gandhi University) and Amarjeet Sharma (Guru Nanak Dev University).

52kg class: Lalit (Chaudhary Bansi Lal University) beat Yogesh (Om Parkash Jogender Singh University) 3-2; Bronze medals: Jitendra Kumar (Lovely Professional University) and Ajay Kumar (Chandigarh University).

57 kg class: Shashikant Yadav (University of Mumbai) beat Rajpinder Singh (Guru Nanak Dev University) 5-0; Bronze medals: P Appala Raju (BR Ambedkar University, Srikakulam) and Akshay (Maharashi Dayanand University).

60kg class: Sunil Chauhan (Chaudhary Charan Singh University) beat Vijay Kumar (Guru Nanak Dev University) 4-1. Bronze medals: Jitender Thakur (Himachal Pradesh University) and Vishal Mehlawat (Sanskriti University, Mathura).

63kg class: Ashutosh Bhagat (Lovely Professional University) beat Sachin (RTM Nagpur University) 5-0. Bronze medals: Sahil (Sardar Patel University, Balaghat) and Deepak Singh (Om Parkash Jogender Singh University).

69kg class: Pawan Kumar (Maharshi Dayanand University) beat Yashpal (Kurukshetra University) 3-2; Bronze medals: Aakash Gautam (Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya) and Sagar (University of Delhi).

75kg class: Kunal (Chaudhary Bansi Lal University, Bhiwani) beat Ayaan Parihar (Himachal Pradesh University) 4-1. Bronze medals: Mohit Khatana (Lovely Professional University) and Gourav (Om Parkash Jogender Singh University).

81kg class: Saksham (Himachal Pradesh University) beat Sumit (Kurukshetra University) 5-0; Bronze medals: Manvendra Singh (University of Delhi) and Anshul Kataria (RTM Nagpur University).

91kg class: Sawan Gill (Panjab University) beat Anik Verma (BR Ambedkar University, Agra) by walk-over. Bronze medals: Nishant (Sardar Patel University, Balaghat) and Abhishek Sharma (University of Rajasthan).

+91kg class: Sagar (Panjab University) beat Suryaveer Sehrawat (Chaudhary Charan Singh University), latter abandoned after 1st round. Bronze medals: Neeraj (Maharshi Dayanand University) and Jaspal Singh (Guru Nanak Dev University).

Football

Women: Annamalai University 2 (M Malavika 9th minute, S Ishwrya 16) beat Madurai Kamaraj University 1 (Ravisana Soundarpandian 54). Bronze medal play off: Guru Nanak Dev University 3 (Neha Mann 64, 67; Madhu Bala 86) beat Goa University 1 (Karishma Shirvoikar 38).

Kabaddi

Men: Guru Nanak Dev University beat Kurukshetra University 33-31. Bronze medals: Mangalore University and Shivaji University.

Women: Himachal Pradesh University beat Maharshi Dayanand University 32-19; Bronze medals: Kurukshetra University and Hemchand Yadav Vishwavidyalaya.

Table Tennis

Men: Chitkara University beat Osmania University 3-1 (Arjun Ghosh lost to SFR Snehit 6-11, 9-11, 8-11; Ronit Bhanja beat Ali Mohammed 5-11, 5-11, 11-6, 11-8, 15-13; Jeet Chandra beat Raghu Ram Malleboina 11-5, 11-3, 11-5; Ronit Bhanja beat SFR Snehit 6-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-5). Bronze medals: University of North Bengal and University of Madras.

Women: University of Madras beat Delhi University 3-0 (Yashini beat Aanchal Malhotra 16-14, 11-6, 11-8; Sehala Sheela Jacob beat Priyanka Pareek 11-9, 11-9, 14-12; P Pavithra beat Kritika Malik 11-6, 11-9, 11-5). Bronze medals: University of Mumbai and SRM University.

Wrestling

Men

Freestyle

86kg class: 1. Nitesh (Chaudhary Bansi Lal University); 2. Vivek (Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University); 3. Akshay Chandrakant Kaware (Savitribai Phule Pune University).

+97kg class: 1. Yogesh (University of Rajasthan; 2. Akshay Satpal Mangawade (Shivaji University); 3. Jasdeep Singh (Punjabi University).

Greco-Roman

67kg class: 1. Arvind Yadav (VBS Purvanchal University); 2. Mohit (Chaudhary Ranbir Singh University); 3. Aman Kumar (Guru Nanak Dev University).

+98kg class: Vinit Kumar (Punjabi University); 2. Ashok Kumar (Maharaja Surajmal Brij University); 3. Taranveer Singh (Guru Nanak Dev University).

Women

62kg class: 1. Laxmi Sitaram Pawar (Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar Marathwada University); 2. Rajbha Reema (Swarnim Gujarat Sports University); 3. Preeti (VBS Purvanchal University).

76kg class: 1. Pooja (Maharshi Dayanand University); 2. Nikky (Dr. BR Ambedkar University, Agra); 3. Nutan Sharma (Guru Jambheshwar University).