BHUBANESWAR: On the inaugural day of athletics in the Khelo India University Games, Harmilan Kaur Bains set a record in women’s 1500m. The Punjabi University runner bettered PU Chitra’s university record by clocking 4:16.68 at Kalinga Stadium.
The 21-year-old from Patiala shaved a hundredth of a second from Chitra’s record of 4:24.87 to establish herself as a rising prospect. It was the fastest time of the year by an Indian woman, more than eight seconds faster than her personal best.
Harmilan’s gold was one of the three won by Punjabi University on the day. They rose to fourth on the tally with seven gold medals, behind Savitribai Phule Pune University (14), Panjab University (9) and Jain University (8). Shot-putter Prabhkirpal Singh and 71kg weightlifter Harjinder Kaur were the other gold winners.
The other eye-catching performance in track and field came from Odisha’s Manisha Merel representing Sambalpur University.
She dominated the women’s long jump event in the absence of Sherin Abdul Gafoor and leapt 6.22m. This was an improvement on her effort of 6.20, which fetched her bronze in the All-India Inter-University Championships last month.
“The competition was tough. I am happy with the gold. This repays the faith the Khelo India scheme has put in me,” said the 19-year old Manisha, who hails from a small village in the Keonjhar district.
The women’s rugby team of the KIIT University grabbed the gold by beating Pataliputra University 31-7 in the final. In a onesided final, KIIT skipper Hupi Majhi set the example for her team by nailing a double try and took the game away from Pataliputra.
Siblings strike goldWhen she was a kid, Soni and her elder brother Sravan Mandangi had enrolled in the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences school. Hailing from a tribal family, the siblings had no idea about education or sport.
Slowly, they got entrenched into the system. Both are part of the KIIT University now, with Sravan representing them in recurve archery and sister Soni in rugby. After Sravan’s gold a couple of days ago, Soni too struck gold on Friday. “Back in our village, I didn’t study or play any sport. When my parents got to know there is a school for tribal children here, my father enrolled us. In 2007, students from our institute representing India won the International School Rugby Tournament in London. That inspired me,” said the 19-year-old Soni.