Khelo India University Games: Olympian Nataraj wins 3 gold medals, Jain University dominate in pool

Srihari Nataraj on Thursday claimed three gold medals as hosts Jain University dominated the pool by winning as many as 14 yellow metals at the ongoing Khelo India University Games (KIUG). Nataraj, representing Jain University, won the 100m freestyle, 50m backstroke and 4x200m freestyle relay, setting new KIUG records in all the events. Nataraj won the 100m freestyle in 50.98 seconds, bettering the 53.01s set by Rudransh Mishra in the 2020 edition. The silver and bronze were bagged by Heer Shah (University of Mumbai) 52.78s and Adhithya Dinesh (Anna University) 52.79s respectively.

In the 50m backstroke, Nataraj clocked 26.10s. The silver and bronze went to Siva Sridhar (Jain University) 27.10s and Siddhant Sejwal (Panjab University) 27.69s. Nataraj then teamed up with Sanjay Jayakrishnan, Siva Sridhar and Raj Relekar to clinch the 4x200m freestyle relay for Jain University with a new record timing of 8:06.87s. Savitribai Phule Pune University won the silver clocking 8:22.17s while University of Mumbai bagged the bronze with a timing of 8:28.57s. The 100m backstroke event was won by Danush Suresh of Anna University (1:03.36s) while the silver and bronze went to Jay Ekbote of University of Mumbai (1:06.33s) and Kritayush Singh of Adamas University (1:07.16s). Jain University's Siva Sridhar was the undoubted star in the pool, having won seven gold and two silver medals. In archery, there was a deluge of upsets on the opening day. First to fall was Muskan Kirar of Rani Durgavati Vishwavidyalaya in the compound women's singles. Kirar had topped the qualification round, but failed to get going, falling to the last place qualifier Sneh Rani of Guru Nanak Dev University 135-139. Rani was knocked out in the very next round by