KIUG 2023: Pole vaulter Gowtham, javelin thrower Jyoti, runner Amandeep break Games records

GUWAHATI: Pole Vaulter M. Gowtham of University of Madras, javelin thrower Jyoti of Chaudhary Devi Lal University and middle-distance runner Amandeep Kaur of Panjab University set new Games records to light up the last day of athletics action in the 4th Khelo India University Games 2023 Ashtalakshmi at the Indira Gandhi stadium here on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Aizawl, Mizoram, Ashif P.A. scored the winner in the 85th minute to help the University of Calicut beat University of Kerala 2-1 to win the men’s football gold. Ananthu had put the winners ahead in the second minute but Jijo Jaison restored parity 20 minutes later, following which both teams played cautious football till Ashif broke the deadlock.

Annamalai University clinched the women’s team gold, beating Guru Nanak Dev University in a tie-break 3-2 after both the teams were locked at 0-0 at full time at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati.

With two more days of competition left, Chandigarh University continues to lead the medals tally with 24 gold, 16 silver and 16 bronze at the time of writing. Lovely Professional University are second with 13 gold, 12 silver and 3 bronze while Guru Nanak Dev University moved up to third spot with 10 gold, 14 silver and 13 bronze.

But it was the track and field athletes from other universities that stole the show on Tuesday.

University of Madras’ Gowtham cleared the distance of 5 metres to erase the previous mark of 4.90m set by Sidharth A.K. of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam to take home the men’s pole vault gold medal. Bharathiar University’s Balan S. (4.60m) and Maharshi Dayanand University’s Uttam (4.50m) took home the silver and bronze respectively. His performance on Tuesday also equalled his All-India University record which he set in Madras earlier this year.

On the other side of the Indira Gandhi stadium, Jyoti was under pressure as Chandigarh University’s Deepika had improved on the earlier Games record of 50.14m set by Harita of Chaudhary Bansi Lal University in the last edition with a throw of 52.68m.

But the Haryana athlete, who had won the gold medal in the National Open Athletics meet in Bengaluru in October last year, responded with a throw of 53.16m in her fourth attempt to clinch the women’s javelin throw gold. Sapna of Chaudhary Devi Lal University bagged the bronze with a throw of 46.44m.

In the women’s 800m event, Amandeep was five seconds faster than her nearest competitor as she stopped the clock at 2:11.27s to clinch the gold medal with a new Games record. The earlier mark was held by Harmilan Kaur Bains who had clocked a time of 2:06.40s in the first edition of KIUG in Odisha.

Lavanya of the University of Madras (2:11.23s) and Deepashree of Mangalore University (2:12.06) bagged the silver and bronze respectively.