Khelo India University Games 2020: Uttkarsh Dixit, Priyanka Thakran claim gold in contrasting styles

Bhubaneswar, February 26: Bespectacled Uttkarsh Dixit (Punjabi University, Patiala) and Priyanka Thakran (Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak) took contrasting routes to win the men and women’s recurve archery gold medals at the Khelo India University Games 2020 here in Odisha on Wednesday.

Uttkarsh Dixit confessed to being nervous at the start against Ranjit Naik of the host University, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, but calmed down after losing the opening set to win the next two. He could sense the home archer come under pressure in the final set but resolved to keep his own focus sharp to run away the victor.

Priyanka Thakran, who stunned World Cadet Champion Komolika Bari in the semifinals on Monday, thought the gold medal was slipping away when Prarthana Solanki (Panjab University, Chandigarh) won the last two sets to force a single arrow shoot-off. Both archers hit 9 but Priyanka Thakran’s arrow was closer to the centre and she walked away with the title.

As many as 24 Universities from across the country have won at least one gold medal while 39 have claimed at least one medal till now, but Savitribai Phule Pune University, with 10 gold medals, are placed on top of the charts. Their athletes have won four silver and six bronze medals as well. With 24 medals, including 8 gold, Panjab University have the largest haul so far.

Three new National marks were set in the men’s 55kg class weightlifting. Prashant Suresh Koli (Kavayitri Bahinabai Chaudhari University, Jalgaon) set the hall alight with a 110kg Snatch, improving on R Madhavan’s mark of 106kg. He threw the gauntlet down with another National record in Clean and Jerk, lifting 133kg on his final attempt.

However, within a few moments, Shivaji University’s Sanket Mahadev Sargar turned the tables on him, breaking that Clean and Jerk mark, lifting 138kg to edge past Prashant Koli’s total of 243kg for another National mark that was a good 5kg more than Ch. Rishikanta Singh’s tally of 239kg set in the National Championships in Visakhapatnam last year.

Sadhvi Dhuri claimed five of Savitribai Phule Pune University’s nine gold in the Biju Patnaik Swimming Pool in the Kalinga Sports Complex to emerge the most successful swimmer. She first won the 200m Individual Medley and completed a sweep of Freestyle sprints by winning the 100m. She had also won the 100m Butterfly gold on Tuesday to add to the 50m and 200m Free crowns.

Panjab University’s Siddhanth Sejwal’s bid to finish with six gold was thwarted when he finished third in the men’s 100m Freestyle behind Rudransh Mishra (University of Mumbai) and Harshal Sarang (Veer Narmad South Gujarat University). He anchored his team to the 4x200m Freestyle win and took gold in the 50m Backstroke. But with five gold, he was a satisfied man.

Andhra University and Jain University emerged the men and women’s badminton champions, with victories over Panjab University and SRM University respectively at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack. The Andhra University women’s team and the Jain University men’s squad had claimed bronze medals overnight.

The results (all finals):

Archery

Men’s Recurve: Uttkarsh Dixit (Punjabi University, Amritsar) beat Ranjit Naik (Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology) 6-4 (27-29, 28-27, 28-26, 26-27, 27-23); Bronze medal play-off: Yashdeep Bhoge (Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University) beat Gaurav Lambe (Savitribai Phule Pune University) 6-2.

Team: Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (Ranjit Naik, Suryamani Majhi and Sraban Kumar Mandagi) beat Punjabi University (Pawan, Uttkarsh Dixit and Lalit Jain) 5-1. Bronze medal play-off: Kurukshetra University (Sachin Gupta, Parveen and Monu Kumar) beat Maharashi Dayanand University (Aditya Singh, Adarsh Bhadana and Sagar) 6-0.

Women’s Recurve: Priyanka Thakran (Maharashi Dayanand University) beat Prarthna Solanki (Panjab University, Chandigarh) 5-5 (28-25, 25-25, 28-24, 23-26, 25-28). 9-9 in shoot-off (won on closest to centre basis); Bronze medal play-off: Komolika Bari (Kolhan University) beat Sangeeta (Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar) 6-0.

Team: Kolhan University (Komolika Bari, Basanti Birua and Suman Purty) beat Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University 6-0. Bronze medal play-off: Guru Jambheshwar University (Sangeeta, Preeti and Reena) beat Panjab University (Monika, Prarthana Solanki and Anayat Sidhu) 6-0.

Mixed Team: Kolhan University (Sourav Mukhi and Komalika Bari) beat Maharshi Dayanand University (Adarsh Bhadana and Priyanka Thakran) 6-2. Bronze medal play-off: Punjabi University (Uttkarsh Dixit and Kashish Khan) beat Savitribai Phule Pune University (Gaurav Lambe and Bhagyashri Kolte) 4-4 (18-16 in shoot-off).

Badminton

Men: Andhra University beat Panjab University 3-1 (Pranay Reddy lost to Kartik Jindal 6-21, 7-21; Jagadeesh Kalaga beat Abhishek Saini 21-16, 21-19; Garaga Krishna Prasad and Podile Sri Krishna Sai Kumar beat Kartik Jindal and Hardik Makkar 12-21, 21-18, 21-15; Aditya Goparaju Bapine beat Hardik Makkar 21-14, 21-17). Bronze medal play-off: Jain University beat Savitribai Phule Pune University 3-1 (Shamanth Kidiyo lost to Rishabh Deshpande 9-21, 13-21; Daniel Farid beat Rushikesh Hole 21-12, 21-15; Saif Ali and Sai Pratheek K beat Aditya Mhatre and Ajinkya Patharkar 18-21, 21-13, 21-18; Nikhil Shyam Sriram beat Arya Bhivpathak 21-16, 17-21, 21-19).

Women: Jain University beat SRM University 2-0 (Shikha Rajesh Gautam beat Nivetha Muthukumar 21-12, 21-18; Ashwini K Bhat and Shikha Rajesh Gautam beat Bailupudi Venkat Ramya Tulasi and V Nila 21-7, 21-14). Bronze medal play-off: Andhra University beat Delhi University 3-0 (Pakalapati Varma lost to Bhavya Rishi 11-21, 14-21; Anupoju Akshita and Kondam Preethi beat Bhavya Rishi and Namita Pathania 9-21, 21-18, 21-15; Kondam Preethi beat Namita Pathania 21-18, 12-21, 21-17).

Swimming

Men

100m Freestyle: Rudransh Mishra (University of Mumbai) 53.01 seconds; 2. Harshal Sarang (Veer Narmad South Gujarat University) 54.82; 3. Siddhant Sejwal (Panjab University) 54.99.

100m Breaststroke: 1. Ansh Arora (University of Delhi) 2. Jay Prakash Ekbote (University of Mumbai) ; 3. Suneesh Suresh (University of Kerala).

50m Backstroke: 1. Siddhant Sejwal (Panjab University) 27.43 seconds; 2. Siva Sridhar (Jain Univesity) 27.96; 3. Shwejal Mankar (Savitribai Phule Pune University) 28.11.

4x200m Freestyle Relay: 1. Panjab University (Harnimrat Singh Bhinder, Anurag Dagar, Deepanshu Dahiya and Siddhant Sejwal) 8:16.04; 2. Savitribai Phule Pune University 8:26.72; 3. Delhi University 8:36.64

Women

100m Freestyle: 1. Sadhvi Dhuri (Savitribai Phule Pune University) 1:00.97; 2. Aarti Patil (University of Mumbai) 1:03.66; 3. Rutuja Talegaonkar (RTM Nagpur University) 1:04.11.

100m Breaststroke: 1. Jyoti Patil (University of Mumbai) 1:18.12; 2. Aarti Patil (University of Mumbai) 1:19.42; 3. Riddhi Bohra (Christ University) 1:20.91.

50m Backstroke: 1. Damini Gowda (Rajiv Gandhi University of Medical Sciences) 32.95 seconds; 2. Deepali Attri (Panjab University) 32.28; 3. Yugandhara Shirke (Shivani University) 33.85.

200m Individual Medley: 1. Sadhvi Dhuri (Savitribai Phule Pune University) 2:34.50; 2. Kalyani Saxena (Veer Narmad South Gujarat University) 2:36.36; 3. Rutuja Talegaonkar (RTM Nagpur University) 2:37.70.

4x100m Freestyle Relay: 1. Jain University (Dhruti Muralidhar, Rhia Singh, Deeksha Ramesh and SV Nikitha) 4:23.58; 2. Delhi University 4:27.54; 3. University of Mumbai 4:29.14.

Weightlifting

Men

55kg class: 1. Sanket Mahadev Sargar (Shivaji University) 244kg (New National Record. Old: 239, Ch. Rishikanta Singh, Manipur) (Snatch 106kg, Clean & Jerk 138kg. New National Record. Old: 134kg, Shubham Todkar, Maharashtra); 2. Prashant Suresh Koli (Kavayitri Bahinabai Chaudhari University, Jalgaon) 243 (110 [New National Record. Old: 106kg, R Madhavan, Puducherry]; 133); 3. Kumbeshwar Mallik (Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology) 210 (92, 118).

61kg class: 1. Govinda Sunil Mahajan (Kavayitri Bahinabai Chaudhari North Maharashtra University Jalgaon) 234kg (104, 130); 2. Rahul Ramesh Karalingannavar (Mangalore University) 227 (98, 129); 3. Sagar Madar (Lovely Professional University) 226 (102, 124).

Women

45kg class: 1. Sakshi Prakash Mane (Savirtibai Phule Pune University) 138kg (62, 76); 2. Komal Kohar (Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak) 133 (60, 73); 3. Prerana Kishore Sonawane Kavayitri Bahinabai Chaudhari University, Jalgaon 126 (56, 70).

49kg class: 1. Priyadarshini Thuram (Mangalore University) 164kg (69, 95); 2. Chetana Deepak Ghojage (Savirtibai Phule Pune University) 148 (65, 83); 3. P Akila (Manonmaniam Sundaranar University 138 (60, 78).

55kg class: 1. Gauri Pandey (VBS Purvanchal University) 172kg (72kg, 100kg); 2. Pramila Krisani (Berhampur University) 162 (71, 91); 3. Abhirami P Mathew (University of Calicut) 157 (71, 86).