Harmilan Bains lowers PU Chitra's 1500m record as Punjabi University rise in medal charts

Punjabi University's Harmilan Kaur Bains improved upon PU Chitra's All-India Universities women's 1500m record to steal the limelight on the opening day of the athletics competition in the inaugural Khelo India University Games 2020 at the Kalinga Stadium here on Friday Harmilan led from start to finish to complete her victory in 4:16.68.

The 21-year-old from Patiala, who had shaved a hundredth of a second from PU Chitra's record time of 4:24.87 earlier, left none in doubt on Friday that she was rising as one of the nation's metric mile prospects with the fastest time of the year by an Indian woman, over eight seconds faster than her personal best Harmilan's gold was one of the three that the Punjabi University won on Friday to rise in the medal tally to the fourth place with seven gold behind Savitribai Phule Pune University (14), Panjab University (9) and Jain University (8). Shot putter Prabhkirpal Singh and 71kg class weightlifter Harjinder Kaur were their other gold winners.

Panjab University also garnered three gold on Friday, through 10000m runner Jyoti and Greco-Roman wrestlers Lovepreet Singh (77kg class) and Rajneesh (87kg class) Manonmaniam Sundaranar University and Lovely Professional University were the only institutions besides Punjabi University to claim multiple gold medals on Friday.

Weightlifters Alish R Arockiya (76kg class) and T Dharshini (81kg class) were the stars for Manonmaniam Sundaranar University who now have a total of three gold among their seven-medal haul Lovely Professional University's golden gains came through woman javelin thrower Shilpa and men's 96kg class weightlifter Gurjeet Singh. The Phagwara university have four gold so far among their nine-medal haul to be ranked in the Top 10 on the medal tally as of Friday evening.

The other eye-catching performance in track and field competition was scripted by Manisha Merel (Sambalpur University) who dominated the women's long jump in Sherin Abdul Gafoor's absence, owing to an injury. She leapt 6.22m and enhanced her reputation by improving on her 6.20m effort that fetched her the bronze medal in the All-India Inter-University Championships last month In a thrilling men's hockey final, two Bengaluru institutions shared six goals before a penalty shoot-out helped find the winner. Bangalore Central University rallied from a 1-3 deficit thanks to goals by Mutagar Haresh Somappa and NG Somiah in the last seven minutes to take the match into the penalty shoot-out and win it 5-4.

Shivaji University men's rugby team silenced the home crowd with a facile win over Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology in the semifinals and then went on to claim the gold medal with a hard-fought 24-19 victory over Chandigarh University, Mohali. The host university's women, though, were unstoppable, capping their run with a triumph over Pataliputra University A double strike by NV Santhiya in the first-half saw Annamalai University emerge a 2-1 winner over Guru Nanak Dev University in the women's football semifinals..

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