Patna (Bihar), May 10 (IANS) Harsabardhan Sahu and Jyoshna Sabar won the gold medals with new national youth records on the first day of the weightlifting competitions in the Khelo India Youth Games 2025 Bihar in Rajgir as Maharashtra maintained their position atop the medal table with twice as many gold medals as their nearest rival.
But the stars of the day were Harsabardhan Sahu, Asmita Dhone, who do not believe in resting on their laurels. Barely 10 days after winning medals for India in the World Youth Weightlifting Championships in Lima, Peru, they showcased their world-class skills to an appreciative audience at the Rajgir Sports Complex, claiming a gold each for Odisha on Saturday.
Harsabardhan Sahu, a Khelo India Athlete from Ganjam district who will turn 16 on May 22, doubled his joy with two National Youth Records to boot in the boys’ 49kg class competition. He rewrote the National Youth records for Clean and Jerk and Total with lifts of 115kg and 203kg, respectively, after an 88kg lift in Snatch. The previous records were set by Jharkhand’s Babulal Hembrom last year.
Hailing from the Gajapati district, the 16-year-old Jyoshna Sabar, who has a hat-trick of medals in the IWF World Youth Championships including a bronze in Lima on April 30 and is the reigning Asian Champion in the girls’ 40kg class, was head and shoulders above the rest of the field and did only what was needed of her to win gold for her State.
Late in the evening on Day 7 of the competitions in KIYG 2025, Maharashtra’s Asmita Dhone and Uttar Pradesh’s Manasi Chamunda rewrote National Youth Records in Snatch, Clean and Jerk, and Total in the girls’ 49kg class competition. Asmita Dhone conceded the Snatch record to Manasi Chamunda, who cleared the barbell loaded at 75kg but brooked no challenge in Clean and Jerk.
However, by the time she entered the fray with a load of 91kg, Manasi Chamunda had claimed the National Youth record for a total of 163kg. But that was short-lived as Asmita Dhone bossed the Clean and Jerk with lifts of 91kg, 95kg, and 97kg. Each lift helped her raise the National Youth mark for total, while the last two lifts were records for Clean and Jerk.
Maharashtra had added two gold medals to its collection earlier on Saturday – Akanksha Kishore Vyavahare opening its account in the Weightlifting arena after left-handed Kavya Bhatt claimed the girls singles Table Tennis crown – it was firmly entrenched at the top of the Khelo India Youth Games 2025 Bihar medal tally with 27 gold, 21 silver and 24 bronze for a total of 72 medals.
Maharashtra has won nearly twice as many gold medals as its nearest rival, Karnataka. Punjab lifted itself to the fifth place on the medal table behind Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, thanks to gold medals from its Skeet shooters, Harazeez Singh Atwal and Risham Kaur Guron. Punjab has six gold, the same as Tamil Nadu, Haryana, and Manipur but has more silver medals than them.
Away from the rush for a place in the top five, Delhi and Assam were delighted to add a gold medal each on Saturday. Delhi’s 25m Pistol shooter Naamya Kapoor emerged on top, winning a tough competition with Anjali Bhagwat (Madhya Pradesh) by one point, while Assam’s gold came through Priyanuj Bhattacharyya in the boys’ singles final.
Hosts Bihar lost two sepak takraw finals. In the girls’ doubles final, Bihar lost the gold to Nagaland after leading 11-4 in the decider. Bihar sniffed victory at that stage, but some errors, possibly forced by an anxiety to close out the contest, saw it lose 15-7, 11-15, 13-15.
In the boys’ doubles final, Assam beat Bihar to the sepak takraw gold. Assam won the first set 15-9, but the second went all the way to the wire. Bihar saved two match points as Assam converted the third to win 17-15 and the gold.
With 19 medals (three gold, eight silver, and eight bronze), Bihar is back in the top half of the medals chart.
With only 13 gold medals on offer on Saturday and with its most rewarding sport, Swimming, having concluded, Karnataka was delighted to secure its first gold medal from another sport. Naraen Pranav Vanitha Suresh finished with one point more than Maharashtra’s Parth Mane to win the boys’ 10m Air Rifle crown after a heady contest.
On Saturday, it could not be denied that Harsabardhan Sahu’s third lift in the clean and jerk, which gave him two National Youth Records at once, remained the biggest moment of the day – and possibly the Khelo Indian Youth Games 2025 Bihar thus far.
–IANS
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