Khelo India: In Aldrin’s absence, no 8m mark in long jump

Express News Service

BENGALURU:  Even before the second edition of the Khelo India University Games kicked off in Bengaluru last month, athletics, as expected, was always going to be a show stopper. There were good reasons for one to be excited as well, with upcoming track and field youngsters like Priyah H Mohan (400m), Jeswin Aldrin (long jump) and Duttee Chand (100m) among others expected presence adding glitter to the competition.

However, when the long jumpers lined up to take the field at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Saturday, there was a surprise. Aldrin was not present among the participants. He gave the competition a miss. In fact, of the eight participants, only five showed up, and with no Aldrin, who registered a personal best of 8.26m in Thenhipalam earlier in the month, anyone even coming close to the 8m mark blew up in smoke even before the jumps began. At the end of the event, forget the 8m mark, none of the athletes even breached the 7.4m mark. Sriram V from SRM University with a jump of 7.31m in his second last legal jump clinched gold . Anil Kumar Sahoo and Sreekanth KM finished silver and bronze, respectively, with a jump of 7.27m and 7.26m respectively. 

However, it was a much better show in the discus throw in the men’s section with Lovely Professional University’s Abhinav creating a new meet record with a throw of 54.46m. In the women’s competition, Tanuja from Maharshi Dayanand University also achieved the same feat with a throw of 47.07. It was her first throw of the competition, which sealed the deal for gold as well. In the 100m sprint, A Vignesh  from Mangalore University clocked 10.50 to create a new meet record as Bharathiar University’s S Tamilarasu finished a close second in 10.51s. Dutee won gold in the women’s 100m with a timing of 11.68.

There was yet another meet record in women’s pole vault as Pavithra Venkatesh from Periyar University, clearing the 4.01m mark. Karate also made its debut at the KIUG on Saturday. Jiwaji University collected their first gold at the games, courtesy Hrithik Banke in the men’s individual kata.