Maharashtra Claims First Gold at Khelo India Youth Games 2023 in Gymnastics

Chennai: The defending champions, Maharashtra, marked their entry into the gold medal tally at the Khelo India Youth Games 2023 on Monday as gymnast Aaryan Davande secured the Artistic All-Round crown at the SDAT Aquatics complex.

Davande’s stellar performance garnered a total of 73.200 points, edging past Uttar Pradesh’s Pranav Mishra, who secured 72.470 points, to claim the top spot. Harshit of Uttar Pradesh secured the bronze with a score of 71.700 points. The competition required boys to showcase their skills on six different apparatuses to determine the winner.

This gold medal propelled Maharashtra to the third position in the overall standings, accumulating a total of 10 medals, including four silver and six bronze.

While Maharashtra celebrated its gymnastic triumph, host Tamil Nadu continued to dominate the medal chart with five gold medals. Cyclist J Srimathi contributed to the state’s gold tally by winning the Girls Time Trial at the TNPESU Velodrome, recording a timing of 39.752. Her state-mate R Tamilara secured the bronze with a time of 41.028, while Vimla from Rajasthan clinched the silver.

In the Boys Time Trial, Aashirwad Saxena from Telangana claimed the gold medal with a timing of 1:12.652s. Vedant Jadhav from Maharashtra (1:13.362s) and Gurmoor Poonia from Haryana (1:14.192s) secured the silver and bronze, respectively.

Meanwhile, at the Nehru Park squash courts, top-seeded Pooja Arthi stormed into the individual final with an emphatic 11-5, 11-4, 11-5 victory over state-mate Deepika V.

In the hockey competition, Haryana and Odisha secured their spots in the girls’ semi-finals from Group B with two wins each. Simultaneously, Madhya Pradesh assured themselves a spot in the last four stages with a 1-0 victory over Chhattisgarh.