Khelo India 2019: Unheralded Kalyani hogs limelight in KIYG pool

Pune, Jan. 12: Unheralded Kalyani Saxena swam to gold and glory in the U-21 women’s 400 medley, earning the first swimming gold for Gujarat in the Khelo India Youth Games here on Friday.

For the third successive day, action in the pool was dominated by swimmers from Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka who between them shared 21 of the 33 medals at stake.

Maharashtra claimed seven medals (four gold, three silver), Delhi had eight (three gold, three silver and two bronze) and Karnataka bagged six (two gold, silver and bronze).

What would have caught the eye of the talent identifiers was the way Kalayni led from the start to finish. She made light of the opposition and finished in 5;27.28 to even ease up her pace before the others could touch the finish pad.

Rajasthan’s Firdoush Kayamkhani (5;28.83) and Bengal’s Sayani Ghosh (5:33.45) took silver and bronze respectively.

The girls U-17 400m medley turned out to be a thriller with Maharashtra’s Apeksha Fernandes’s last lap burst pushing contenders Kanya Nayyar of Madhya Pradesh (5:24.54) and Goa’s Shrungi Bandekar (5:25.20) to second and third respectively. Apeksha timed 5:23.36 for the gold.

Another Maharashtra girl, Kenisha Gupta, bagged the 100m U-17 freestyle gold without much ado. Delhi’s Shivangi Sharma and Bihar’s Mahi Swetraj were a distant second and third.

Tamil Nadu’s Sanjay Jayakrishnan, winner of a bronze in the boys U-17 1500m freestyle yesterday, gave his state the first gold of the day as he pipped the fancied Anurag Singh of Delhi in the 400m freestyle.

Sanjay timed 4;13.36, Anurag returned 4;14.23 and Karnataka’s Mohit Venkatesh took bronze in 4:17.78.

Bhavika Dugar, winner of the 400m girls U-21 freestyle closed the third day’s proceeding in the pool with her second individual and Tamil Nadu’s second gold in the 1500m freestyle.

Maharashtra’s Rutuja Talegaonkar was second in 18;53.36 while Haryana Jasmin Gurung won her third straight medal, the bronze, having taken silver on the first and second days. Delhi’s three gold medals came from Kushagra Rawat (men’s U-21, 400m freestyle) Bikram Changmai (boys U-17 100m butterfly) and their 4x100m medley relay (boys U-17).

Maharashtra’s Mihir Ambre won an exciting 100m butterfly contest in the boys U-21 section. Team-mate Sadhvi Dhuri won the girls U-17 100m freestyle while Karnataka’s second gold came in the boys U-21 4x100m medley relay.

Results

Boys:

Under-17

400m freestyle: 1. Sanjay Jayakrishnan (Karnataka) 4.13.36. ; 2. Anurag Singh (Delhi) 4.14.23; 3. Mohit (Karnataka) 4.17.78

100m butterfly: 1. Bikram Changmai (Delhi) 57.55; 2. Aryan Varnekar (Delhi) 58.15; 3. D Adithya (TN) 58.50

4×100m medley: 1. Delhi 4.04.79; 2. Tamil Nadu 4.05.82; 3. Karnataka 4.08.06

Under-21

400m freestyle: 1. Kushagra Rawat (Delhi) 4.01.83; 2. Sushrut Kapse (Maharashtra) 4.10.75; 3. Vishal Grewal (Delhi) 4.15.20

100m butterfly: 1. Mihir Ambre (Maharashtra) 56.10; 2. Avinash Mani (Karnataka) 57.30; 3. Shivaksh Sahu (Chhattisgarh) 58.49

4×100m medley: 1. Karnataka 3.56.38; 2. Maharashtra 4.01.70; 3. Delhi 4.02.92

Girls:

Under-17

400m medley: 1. Apeksha Fernandes (Maharashtra) 5.23.36; 2. Kanya Nayyar (MP) 5.24.54; 3. Shrungi Bandekar (Goa) 5.25.20

100m freestyle: 1. Kenisha Gupta (Maharashtra) 59.78; 2. Shivangi Sharma (Delhi) 1.00.60; 3. Mahi Swetraj (Bihar) 1.01.35

Under-21

400m medley: 1. Kalyani Saxena (Gujarat) 5.27.28; 2. Firdoush Kayamkhani (Rajasthan) 5.28.83; 3. Sayani Ghosh (West Bengal) 5.33.45

100m freestyle: 1. Sadhvi Dhuri (Maharashtra) 1.01.02; 2. Deeksha Ramesh (Karnataka) 1.02.68; 3. Suman Patil (Goa) 1.03.16

1500m freestyle: 1. Bhavika Dugar (TN) 18.13.07; 2. Rutuja Talegaonkar (Maharashtra) 18.53.36; 3. Jasmine Gurung (Haryana) 19.03.93