World Youth Championship silver medallist Jeremy Lalrinnunga, the Mizo lad who is representing Maharashtra, set the benchmark in the weightlifting hall at the Khelo India School Games on the second day of the competition, taking gold medal to lead his State to a medal sweep of the boys’ 62kg category.

Jeremy Lalrinnunga, who also won a gold at the Commonwealth Youth Championships last year, beat silver medallist Jacob Vanlaltluanga,,his friend who offered him the only real competition.

Competing in a higher 62kg class since he is preparing for greater challenges in April, Jeremy Lalrinnunga lifted 115kg in snatch and 136kg in clean & jerk to total 251kg. Jacob Vanlaltluanga managed a total of 247kg in the two-way race, both failing in their last clean & jerk attempts.

Abhishek Nipane picked up the bronze medal in another impressive display on the platform. Much like the boys’ 56kg event yesterday, both Jeremy and Jacob were representing Maharashtra as they are from the Army Sports Institute in Pune, but have grown up together in Aizawl, the capital city of Mizoram.

Jeremy is the son of a PWD worker while Jacob’s father is a teacher in Aizawl. Despite lifting a heroic combined weight here, Jeremy was unhappy with his effort after he failed to lift 140kg in his last attempt. “I wanted to lift more because I was testing myself,” said the winner. He revealed that was not planning to take part in the competition with his eyes set on the National Youth Championships set to take place later this month.

In the girls’ 53kg class that took place earlier today, Lamabam Nilam Devi upset Ananya Patil, who won the Youth gold medal at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championship in Gold Coast, Australia in September 2017.

Ekta Saroj wins nail-biting boxing bout against Bharti to enter semifinals

Punjab’s Ekta Saroj, gold medalist at the seventh Nations Cup in Serbia in January, overcame an intense battle with School Games Champion Bharti in the 46kg class girls boxing quarterfinals in the Boxing Hall at the Indira Gandhi Stadium Saroj won a split 3-2 verdict, a clear testament to how closely fought this bout was. Manipur’s Babyrojisana Chanu, who scored an emphatic win over Delhi’s Harshita yesterday, forced the referee to stop the contest in the first round again as she breezed past Assam’s Nanjita Boro. Babyrojisana, also gold medalist at the Nation’s Cup, will face Punjab’s Sandeep Kour in the 52kg class semifinals .

“I missed out on competing in (the Valeria Demyanova Memorial International in) Ukraine in December last year. There was a mix-up with my visa. I went to Serbia in January and won.
I wish to continue that streak,” Babyrojisana said. Nation’s Cup bronze medalist Arshi Khanam (Rajasthan) was beaten by Haryana’s Minakshi in a repeat of the 50kg class bout at the 2017 Junior Women Boxing Nationals.

In the boys’ section, Maharashtra’s Naoba Singh put up a fine display against Punjab’s Akashdeep in the 50kg class but had to endure a nerve-wracking few seconds before he was finally declared winner unanimously. Naoba, who hails from Manipur and is with the Army Boys Company, said “Thankfully, that suspense lasted briefly.”

Md. Anas leads Uttar Pradesh 1-2 in boys’ all-around gymnastics medals

Allahabad’s Mohammed Anas led an Uttar Pradesh 1-2 in the boy’ all-around gymnastics medals in the inaugural Khelo India School Games at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium . The 16-year-old finished with 66.50 points after solid efforts in floor exercises and vault helped him build insurance for a sub-par show on the parallel bars.

His school-mate Ankur Sharma, who turned in a heart-warming display on the parallel bars, claimed silver with 65.90 points to give Khelgaon Public School a one-two.
Delhi’s Tushar Kalyan was awarded the bronze medal with 62.85 points despite finishing below three other Uttar Pradesh gymnasts – Raj Yadav (65.40), Vaibhav Chaurasia (64.60) and Mohammed Rafey (63.85) as the rules permit the two best from each State to qualify for the All-Around medals.

Anas made his intentions clear when he entered the arena for his first routine, the Floor exercises. He finished on top of the heap, with only Delhi’s Tushar Kalyan coming within hailing distance.