Ann Mariya shines on Day 5, breaks national record at KIUG-2

Bengaluru, April 27 (Agency) On Day 5 of the second edition of Khelo India University Games saw one national and five Games record here on Wednesday. A new national record was set in the 87kg plus women’s weightlifting category as Mangalore University’s MT Ann Mariya won gold. after lifting 129kg to break Manpreet Kaur’s clean and jerk record of 128 kg set at the National Championships this year. Mariya, who does her training drills at the SAI National Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, missed out on equalling her national record in the combined (231kg) set at the National Championships. However, the 24-year-old was euphoric to have surpassed her personal best in the clean and jerk in Bengaluru.

At the end of the day, hosts Jain University were maintaining their lead in the Games medals tally with 10 gold, four silver and one bronze medals. Today, there were 17 medals up for grabs. As many as 63 universities have bagged medals and 29 others clinched a gold. The day also saw an end to the weightlifting, basketball and badminton competitions. Savitribai Phule Pune University claimed gold in the mixed 10m Air Rifle the duo of Rasika Kulve and Gajanan Khandagale outshooting Manipal University’s Manini Kaushik and Yash Vardhan to clinch gold. Gajanan also kittied bronze from the 10m individual Air Rifle. University of Madras won their fourth gold after they beat SRM University 65-48 in the women’s basketball. Archery event, which started today, saw Aditya Choudhary of Lovely Professional University shooting 661 to top the Men’s Recurve. The day started with Anna University setting a new Games record by winning gold in the Men’s 4x100m Medley, though they had lost to hosts Jain University in 4x100m freestyle.

Jain University were ahead right till the anchor leg, but Aditya Dinesh, who was in the bed for three weeks due to hairline fracture in his back in January, swam powerfully to leave behind the rival which boasted of Tokyo Olympian Srihari Nataraj and Siva Sridhar in their ranks. The university clinched their first gold outside of the swimming pool. They won both men and women team events in badminton. Two medals were up for grabs in mixed teams events at the shooting range. Punjabi University, led by Sangampreet Bisla topped the Men’s Compound team. Punjabi University’s women also skunked the Women’s Recurve team. Rani Durgavati Vishwavidhyalaya’s Muskan Kirar shot an impressive 692 in the women’s compound to ascend the chart. Kirar, a top-ranked woman in the competition, suffered heartbreak last time in the quarters. Her teammate Raginee Markoo, who won silver in Bhubaneshwar, was sixth in the qualification (678).