Guwahati, Maharashtra’s Asmi Ankush Badade and Uttar Pradesh’s Jatin Kumar Kanojia joined Tripura’s Priyanka Dasgupta as quadruple gold medal winners at the gymnastics competition in the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) 2020 at the Bhogeswari Phukanani Indoor Stadium here on Saturday.
In the battle for supremacy among the 36 States and Union Territories, Maharashtra topped the charts with seven gold and eight silver among 27 medals in all. With six gold among their 12 medals, Uttar Pradesh occupied the second spot while Delhi were third with a total of 12 medals, including five gold.
Haryana have started to make a mark with two gold medals but occupied seventh place behind Gujarat (10 medals, including four gold), Tripura and Madhya Pradesh. As many as 21 of the 36 contingents have bagged at least a medal so far. The home state, Assam has a total of three medals, thanks to rhythmic gymnast Upasha Talukdar.
As many as seven meet records were bettered on the opening day of the athletics competition, which saw 13 track and field gold medals on offer. Madhya Pradesh made a mark, picking up three gold at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium while Gujarat claimed three of the eight gold medals at stake in the judo competition at the Sports Authority of India Centre in Paltan Bazar.
On a day when World Cadet Champion Komolika Bari lost to Sakshi Tote (Maharashtra) in the second round of the girls under-21 recurve competition, other familiar names like Akash and B Dhiraj also suffered reverses.
Jatin Kumar Kanojia won the Parallel Bars and gold by a big margin on Saturday to add to the boys under-17 artistic gymnastics All-Around crown won on Thursday and the Floor Exercises and Horizontal Bars titles on Friday. The four gold enabled him to wrap up the competition with six medals.
Asmi Ankush Badade’s loss in the Clubs final to Maharashtra team-mate Shreya Pravin Bhangale meant that she was denied a sweep of the five gold medals in the under-17 rhythmic gymnastics competition. But her four gold and a silver show will be remembered for long by those who packed the Indoor Stadium to watch the events.
The breathtaking finish of the boys under-21 5000m race drew fans at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium to the edge of their seats, with defending champion Ajeet Kumar winning by the barest margin against a determined Sunil Dawar. The photo finish camera had to be consulted before Ajeet Yadav was declared winner by a thousandth of a second in 14:39.99, a new meet record.
Uttarakhand broke into the medals chart with Ankita’s gold in the girls under-21 5000m in a new meet record time of 16:38.75. She exchanged leads with Gujarat’s Reena Patel before pulling away with a lap and a half to go. Later, her girls under-17 3000m meet record was lowered by Jharkhand’s Supriti Kachhap.
Madhya Pradesh’s Vivek Kumar led a sweep of the medals in boys under-17 Javelin Throw with
Rinku Yadav and Mohammed Arif Mansoor joining him on the podium. Similarly, Haryana dominated the boys under-21 400m with their sprinters Vikrant Panchal, Amit Balyan and Ayush Dabas storming to the medals. Panchal set a New Meet Record of 47.99 seconds.
