In the ongoing Khelo India Youth Games in Guwahati, Maharashtra’s Asmi Ankush Badade and Jatin Kumar Kanojia of Uttar Pradesh have joined Priyanka Dasgupta of Tripura to become the highest earner in the games so far.
All three of them have won three or more gold medals each. Star of the first day, Priyanka is ahead of everyone with four golds under her name.
Madhya Pradesh’s Arjun Waskale (Boys Under-17 3000m) and Vivek Kumar (Boys Under-17 Javelin) led a medal’s sweep as they won seven out of the 18 medals at stake in the morning session.
Defending champion Ajeet Kumar won the Under-21 5000m race in the closest of the margins possible as he defeated Sunil Dawar. The race had fans at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium at the edge of their seats.
Photo-finish camera had to be consulted before declaring Ajeet the winner of the breath-taking finish by a thousandth of a second in 14:39.99, as he set a new meet record.
Uttarakhand made it to the medal tally with Ankita’s gold after she won the Girls Under-21 5000m in a new meet record time of 16:38:75. Gujarat’s Reena Patel was in the lead for the major part of the race before Ankita overtook her with one and a half lap to go. Earlier, Ankita’s old record in Girls Under-17 3000m was broken by Jharkhand’s Suprita Kachhap.
On Saturday, Jatin Kumar Kanojia won the gold medal in the Parallel Bars by a big margin at the Bhogeswari Phukanani Indoor Stadium to add to his golds of the Boys Under-17 artistic gymnastics All-Around he won on Thursday and the Floor Exercises on Friday. Alongside the three golds, he finished his competition with a total of five medals.
Maharashtra’s Asmi dominated the Girls Under-17 rhythmic gymnastic competition on Saturday. After establishing her superiority with the All-Around title on Friday, she took gold in the Ball and Rope routines as well.