Jaipur, Nov 26 (NationPress) At the Khelo India University Games (KIUG) Rajasthan 2025 held at the Jagatpur Shooting Range, trap shooters Neeru Dhanda and Aditya Bharadwaj were pivotal in ensuring that Guru Nanak Dev University achieved a remarkable clean sweep of all four shotgun medals available. Their cycling team also excelled, securing victories in both individual road races, thus elevating their gold medal count into double digits.

Neeru, who is the current gold medallist from the Asian Shooting Championships, marked her fourth consecutive individual gold at the KIUG with an impressive final score of 47 points. She spearheaded Guru Nanak Dev University’s dominance on the podium, with Manisha Keer (39 points) and Nandika Singh (30 points) claiming silver and bronze, respectively. Together, the trio clinched team gold with a total of 344 points.

Despite finishing second to Manisha in the qualifying round, Neeru elevated her game in the finals. “My determination to secure gold today was strong, as this is my final Khelo India University Games. Having won gold in the previous three editions, I aimed to conclude with yet another gold medal,” she shared with SAI Media. Neeru’s journey began in the Khelo India Youth Games in 2020 with a silver medal, after which she has dominated the University Games.

The KIUG 2025, now in its fifth edition, is taking place across seven cities in Rajasthan, featuring a staggering 4,448 athletes from 222 universities competing in 23 medal disciplines. The event is organized under the Sports Authority of India with the support of the Rajasthan State Sports Council and hosted by Poornima University.

Aditya Bharadwaj also led the men’s trap team from GNDU to a golden double, achieving a score of 45 in the final. Jungsher Singh Virk from Punjabi University earned silver with 43 points, while Bhaktiyaar Malik from Manav Rachna secured bronze.

Earlier, cyclist Meenakshi Rohilla won gold in the individual road race, adding to her triumph in the individual time trial, while her teammate Akshar Tyagi secured the men’s title, pushing Guru Nanak Dev University’s gold medal tally to ten.

In the swimming events, Jain University, the second Khelo India University Games champions, maintained their lead by adding four more gold medals to their previous tally of eight. They triumphed in both the 4x100 freestyle relay, with Nina Venkatesh winning the women’s 50m butterfly and Bhavya Sachdeva claiming gold in the women’s 400m IM.

In a standout performance, Harsh Saroha from Chandigarh University outperformed Olympian Srihari Nataraj in the men’s 50m butterfly, winning gold with a time of 24.90 seconds, and also claimed the gold in the 200m butterfly with a time of 2:06.88 seconds.