Swimmer Dhuri powers Pune University to top of KIUG medal tally

Bhubaneswar : Swimmer Sadhvi Dhuri scooped two gold while Mihir Ambre won his second title to steer Savitribai Phule Pune University to the top of the medal table on the fifth day of the Khelo India University Games here on Tuesday.

Savitribai Phule University has now won 7 gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze for a total of 14 medals. Panjab University, Chandigarh, picked up a gold through their opening day's star swimmer Siddhanth Sejwal, to be in the second spot with 6 gold, 7 silver and 5 bronze.

Jain University, Bengaluru (6 gold, 5 silver, 1 bronze) and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar (6 gold, 1 silver, 5 bronze) are at third and fourth respectively. Punjabi University, Patiala, jumped to the fifth place with 3 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze.

The 19-year-old Sadhvi Dhuri was the toast of the swimming competitions on Tuesday, winning the 200m freestyle comfortably in 2:14.99 and the 100m butterfly after a close battle with Damini Gowda (Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences).

In one of the most exciting races, Dhuri won by a 0.60-second margin. The two wins took her tally of gold here to three.

Sejwal picked up Panjab University's lone gold of the day by winning the 200m freestyle race in 2:01.28 to add to the 50m backstroke and 4x100m freestyle relay crowns that he had won earlier.

He has three events lined up on Wednesday and is hoping to edge out Mihir Ambre (Savitribai Phule Pune University) and the others as the most successful swimmer here.

The archery schedule was completed despite rains thanks to the herculean efforts of officials and volunteers at the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences, Punjabi University suffered a big blow, with top-ranked Sangampreet Singh Bisla losing to University of Rajasthan's Mukul Sharma in the boys' compound final.

Bisla held a two-point lead after each of the first two sets but Mukul clawed his way back in the third set with three 10s to close the gap. He repeated that feat under pressure in the fifth set to overcome the one-point advantage that his rival had opened up in the fourth.

Mukul landed an X in the shoot-off while Bisla managed an 8 to score the upset win. "I told myself not to be overawed by the presence of a renowned archer and yet when I stepped up, I was quite nervous. But once I overcame the initial hesitation and calmed my nerves, I was able to shoot better," Mukul said.

Just as Mukul beat World Youth Championship medallist Bisla, the unheralded Kritika Sharma did the star turn for University of Rajasthan in the women's final by defeating favourite Raginee Markoo (Rani Dugrawati Vishwavidyalaya), also a World Youth Championship medallist.