The Khelo India University Games kicked off at the Jain Global Campus on Saturday, with MG University’s coming up as the big winners of the day, serving up shocks on the volleyball court and a demolition in basketball.
A testament to the variable nature of sport was displayed in the first men’s Volleyball match of the day as MG University Calicut beat University of Calicut. University of Calicut are the defending All India Inter-University champions. Cheered on by their university footballer colleagues, MG University won in straight games (25-11, 25-17, 25-23) to set the tone for the day.
While volleyball action set the day off, at venues spread across the city, other sports had kicked off too. The women’s team badminton was keenly contested with six matches. The highlight of the day was the match between Osmania University and Savitribai Phule University, with the former winning the tie 2-1 — a reversal from the All-India Inter-University earlier this year. The tie was also a perfect example of one sibling bailing out the other in times of crises.
Vaishnavi, 23, the elder sibling lost her opening singles to Mrunmayee Deshpande as Savitribai Phule took the lead. In the doubles the sister act pulled through to draw Osmania level, before Bhairavi, 19 won her singles match to ensure Osmania got the win.
In the basketball competition, University of Madras’ women’s team overwhelmed Guru Nanak Dev University 88-68 in the opener. Their men though suffered a heartbreaking reversal against Kurukshetra University in their own game later in the day, losing by a mere three points.
Back at the volleyball courts, later in the evening, MG University’s women’s team, despite showing some nerves in the late stages, backed up their men’s performance. Playing against a high quality Adamas University, the girls from Kottayam pulled through in four sets of high-quality volleyball.
Speaking after the match, Anna Mathew, who was part of the U21 Kerala team that won the event at the Khelo India Youth Games 2020, said that the event was one of the best competitions on the calendar. “The facilities, the travel, the court quality, at the Khelo India Games it has always been top notch and I’ve loved my experience in the past.” Mathew, 22, has also been part of the India U19 team in the past.
The opening day of competition also saw the first day of Mallakhamb kick off. In the indigenous sport, competitors displayed their skills over three apparatus, rope, pole mallakhamb and hanging mallakhamb.
The Day 2 will see some of the first medal-events at KIUG as weightlifters and shooters will take centerstage at the Games. In addition, women’s football and boxing will also commence.
Results
VOLLEYBALL
Men:
Group A
MG University, Kottayam bt University of Calicut 3-0 (25-11, 25-17, 25-23); Guru Nanak Dev University bt Mangalore University 3-1 (25-20, 25-15, 22-25, 28-26);
Group B
Kurukshetra University bt Adamas University 3-1 (25-19, 25-16, 20-25, 25-22); SRM University bt Punjabi University 3-1 (25-14, 25-20, 22-25, 25-17)
Women:
Group A
SRM University bt Punjab University 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-18); Bharathiar University bt University of Mysore 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-16)
Group B
Himachal Pradesh University bt Punjab University 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-18); MG University bt Adamas University 3-1 (25-14, 25-20, 25-27, 25-22)
BADMINTON
Women’s Team:
Madurai Kamaraj University bt Pt Ravishankar Shukla University 2-0 (Akshaya Arumugam bt Tanya Mallick 21-7, 21-10; Arul Bala Radhakrishnan and Sri Varshini Viswanath bt Ritika Dhruw and Tanya Mallick 21-5, 21-6.
Jain University Bangalore bt Shivaji University Kolhapur 2-0 (Tanya Hemanth bt Prerana Shivaji Alvekar 21-13, 21-18; Janani Anantha Kumar and Drithi Yatheesh bt Prerana Shivaji Alvekar and Amruta Madhukar Sutar 21-7, 21-10.
Ranchi University bt Lovely Professional University 2-0 (Deyashi Kanjibiliya bt Rupinder Kaur 21-18, 21-16; Sonali Dubey and Deyashi Kanjibiliya bt Pinky Karki and Yajum Laa 24-26, 21-15, 21-14.
Osmania University bt Savitribai Phule University 2-1 (Mrunmayee Atul Deshpande bt Vaishnavi Karri 21-16, 21-19; Bhargavi Karri and Vaishnavi Karri bt Siddhi Santosh Jadhav and Riya Rahul Kunjir 21-15, 24-22; Bhargavi Karri bt Riya Rahul Kunjir 28-26, 21-7).
Himachal Pradesh University bt Atal Bihari Vajpayee Vishwavidhyalaya 2-0 (Simran Pandita bt Chanchal Singh 21-13, 21-11; Angelika Shruti David and Jyotishka Thaplaig bt Geetika Pandey and Chanchal Singh 21-6, 21-10.
Barakatullah University bt Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanchal 2-0 (Anisha Wase bt Rudrani Jaiswal 21-18, 21-18; Priyanka Pant and Anisha Wase bt Rudrani Jaiswal and Richa Yadav 21-13, 21-11.
SRM Institute of Science & Technology bt MJP Rohil Khand University 2-0 (Kavipriya Selvam bt Simran Chaudhary 21-14, 21-11; R Thanushree and V Nila bt Simran Chaudhary and Mahi Gumber 21-16, 21-9.
Panjab University bt Devi Ahilya University 2-0 (Garima Singh bt Mihika Satish Bhargav 21-19, 21-14; Arpita Malik and Garima Singh bt Mihika Satish Bhargav and Mushkan Rakesh Rathore 21-13, 21-16).
BASKETBALL
Men:
Group A
Kurukshetra University bt University of Madras 62-59
Women:
Group A
University of Madras bt Guru Nanak Dev University 88-68; MG University bt University of Mumbai 82-38.
Group B
Jain University bt SRM University 66-60.
