Srihari leads Jain's gold rush in swimming
BENGALURU: Pre-match favourites failed to make an impression as the upcoming young batch, led by gold winner Ishneet Aulakh of Punjabi University, Patiala, climbed the podium in the women's 25m sport pistol at the 2nd Khelo India University Games here on Monday.
Olympian Manu Bhaker didn't start and Gauri Sheoran, the highest rated shooter in the final, faded away, after a bright start, in the two-stage final leaving the stage for the upcoming talent. The top-four after the preliminary round - Ishneet, Varsha Singh Dahiya, Arshdeep Kaur and Rutuja Badade continued their fine show to emerge as the top four after the first half of the final.
In the gold medal match between Ishneet and Varsha Singh of Delhi University, the law student from Patiala made amends for her below par show in the NRAI trials pipping Varsha for the gold medal. "This was totally unexpected. But this gold has given me confidence to work hard and get into the senior India squad," a beaming Ishneet, trained by national coach Ved Prakash, told TOI.
It was the defending champions first gold of the Games. Varsha, ranked third in the NRAI ranking chart in the 50m pistol junior women, battled hard but paid the price for her inconsistent form in the final. Arshdeep who topped the preliminary round with a total of 568 settled for the bronze medal after six rounds in the second stage of the final between the top four.
The team comprising Gauri, Ariha Aggarwal and Surbhi Rao won the team gold for Panjab beating Punjabi to second place. Saurashtra took the bronze.
Jain University in lead
Hosts Jain University topped the medal table, thanks to four gold in swimming. The swimming events also saw five new KIUG records, with Olympian Srihari Nataraj showing his class. The young champion won the 50m freestyle in a record time of 23.23 seconds eclipsing Mihir Ambre's 23.78 set in Bhubaneswar. The other gold winners for Jain were Siva Sridhar who clocked 2:05.43 in the 200m individual medley and made it a record double adding the 100m backstroke gold. Shrungi Bandekar won the fourth medal for Jain winning the 100m backstroke 1:07.50s.
In women's volleyball, Bharathiar upset MG University 3-0 in the semifinals. They will face state rivals SRM University, who beat Adamas 3-0, in the finals tomorrow.
Select Results:
(Team Quarters): Men: Punjabi bt Devi Ahilya 3-0; Jain bt Maharshi Dayanand 3-2; SRM bt Dibrugarh 3-0. Women: Madhurai Kamaraj bt Panjab 2-0; SRM bt Barkatullah 2-0.
Basketball: Men: Group A: Jain lost to Kurukshetra 67-73.
Hockey: Men: Pool A: Bangalore 6 (S Harsha 5', B Yathish Kumar 13', 49', BN Chelsea Medappa 19', 37', ND Chiranth Somanna 58') bt Lovely 1 (Lovepreet Jainth 42'). Pool B: Sambalpur 3 (Nabin Kujur 39', 42', 52') drew Bangalore City 3 (Pranam YM 29', 57', 58').
Swimming: Men: 50m FS: 1. Srihari Nataraj (Jain, 23.23 NMR; Old: 23.78s, Mihir Ambre, 2020); 2. Vikkas Prabhakar (SRM, 23.83); 3. Heer Shah (Mumbai, 23.92). 400m FS: 1. Shubham Dhaygude (Savitribai Phule, 4:17.67); 2. Abhilash Challagani (Jawaharlal Nehru TU, 4:19.86); 3. Mathews Koshy (MS Ramaiah, 4:19.96). 200m IM: 1. Siva Sridhar (Jain, 2:05.43, NMR. Old: 2:13.66, T Sethumanickam, 2020); 2. Benedicton Rohit (Anna, 2:12.33); 3. Siddhant Sejwal (Panjab, 2:14.70). 100m backstroke: 1. Siva Sridhar (Jain, 57.38s. NMR. Old: 58.69s, S Sejwal,2020); 2. Siddhanth Sejwal (Panjab, 59.12); 3. Benedicton Rohit (Anna, 1:00.77).
Women: 50m FS: 1. Rujuta Khade (Shivaji, 27.38 NMR; Old: 28.00, S Dhuri, 2020); 2. Sadhvi Dhuri (Savitribai Phule, 28.28); 3. Khushnaaz Soni (Christ, 28.81). 400m Freestyle: 1. V Varsha (Madras, 4:59.63); 2. V Preetha (Bangalore, 5:03.22); 3. R Nirmala (Kerala, 5:13.52). 4x200m FS relay: 1. Madras (9:53.66s); 2. Jadhavpur (9:54.18); 3. Jain (10:11.88). 100m backstroke: 1. Shrungi Bandekar (Jain, 1:07.50 NMR. Old: 1:10.42, D Gowda, 2020); 2. Pratyasa Ray (Utkal, 1:09.72); 3. Damini Gowda (RGUHS, 1:11.01).
Tennis (Team): Men': Group B: Gujarat bt Jain 3-0.
Volleyball: Women (semifinals): SRM bt Adamas 3-0; Bharathiar bt MG 3-0. Men (semifinals): SRM bt MG 3-2.
