Gujarat’s Ajeet Kumar Yadav on Saturday started his campaign at the Khelo India Youth Games by sensationally defending his gold medal in under-21 boys’ 5000m run with a timing of 14:39.99.
The 20-year-old, who had bagged gold medals in 1500m and 5000m last year, was given a close chase by Madhya Pradesh’s Sunil Dawar (14:40.00) and Bahadur Patel (14:41.52).
As many as seven meet records were bettered on the opening day of athletics competition, which saw 13 track and field gold medals on offer. Madhya Pradesh made a mark, picking up three gold.
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.
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.
Haryana dominated the boys’ under-21 400m with its sprinters Vikrant Panchal, Amit Balyan and Ayush Dabas claiming the medals. Panchal set a new meet record of 47.99 seconds.
Gymnastics
Maharashtra’s Asmi Ankush Badade and Uttar Pradesh’s Jatin Kumar Kanojia joined Tripura’s Priyanka Dasgupta as quadruple gold medal winners in gymnastics.
Kanojia won the parallel bars gold following his boys under-17 artistic gymnastics all-around crown and floor exercises and horizontal bars titles. He wrapped up the competition with six medals.
Archery
World cadet champion Komalika Bari lost to Sakshi Tote of Maharashtra in the second round of the girls’ under-21 recurve competition.
Other familiar names like Akash and B. Dhiraj also suffered reverses.
Maharashtra topped the chart with 27 medals, including seven gold. With 12 medals, including six gold, Uttar Pradesh occupied the second spot while Delhi was third with a total of 12 medals, including five gold.
