Swimmer Siva Sridhar won seven gold and two silver medals on Thursday as Jain University continued to dominate the pool at the Khelo India University Games 2021.

The day also saw the end of the boxing and swimming competitions, as the focus gradually shifts to the athletics, which begin on Saturday.

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The final day of swimming was Thursday, and Jain University continued to dominate the pool, winning 14 gold medals overall. Siva Sridhar of the host university was the undisputed star, winning seven gold and two silver medals in the pool. His haul exceeds that of the most successful athletes in the previous edition (Siddhant Sejwal and Sadhvi Dhuri – five gold each).

With Siva claiming a plethora of medals, Jain University maintained its dominance in the medals table with 24 medals, including 16 gold, five silver, and three bronze medals. Panjab University finished second with 27 medals, nine of which were gold. The University of Mumbai took home 16 medals, including six gold, six silver, and four bronze. In total, 40 universities have already won at least one gold medal, and 89 have won at least one medal at the event.

The archery competition, which began on Thursday at the Jain Global Campus, saw a slew of upsets.

Muskan Kirar of Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya was the first to fall in the compound women’s singles. Kirar had won the qualification round, but was unable to get going in the duels, losing 135-139 to the last-place qualifier, Sneh Rani of Guru Nanak Dev University. Sujata from Punjabi University knocked Rani out in the next round.

Raginee Markoo, last year’s silver medalist, advanced steadily through the competition before falling in the semi-finals. Markoo, Kirar’s teammate, was defeated by Madhura Dhamangaonkar of Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University 140-146.

The upheavals continued in the men’s compound as well. Kulwinder Singh and Sangampreet Bisla of Punjabi University finished first and second in the men’s compound qualification yesterday.

But, as in the women’s section, the top seed, Kulwinder, was knocked out in the first round by Shivaji University’s Kunal Shinde, 143-141. Bisla advanced past the first round but was eliminated in the second round by Guru Nanak Dev University’s Hritik Sharma in a shoot-out. Both archers had shot 144 and 9 in the shoot-off, respectively. Hritik won because his arrow was closer to the centre.

Hritik said he was using the Khelo India University Games experience as a launchpad for his season. “I’ll go to the Jr Nationals after this so it was crucial I put up a good show here,” he said.

“No matter the opponent, this sport is about your own mental strength, your performance. And you have to look inward. Today was the same. I made some mistakes, which I need to work on.” Hritik was beaten in the semis by Delhi University’s Tanishdeep Singh.

On Thursday, 25 boxing medals (12 women, 13 men) were awarded, bringing an exciting event to a close.

In the women’s competition, 26 different universities won medals, with eleven universities winning gold in the 12 weight categories – Ch Ranbir Singh University is the only one that won two gold medals, in the 48-50kg and 60-63kg weight categories.

Haryana was represented by five of the eleven universities that won boxing medals. The men’s competition was no different, with 11 universities dividing the 13 categories – Lovely Professional University took home three gold medals.

There will be a total of ten medals up for grabs on Day six at the Khelo India games consisting of six in Judo and four from shooting.

(Inputs from IANS)