National Games 2023 November 2 Live Streaming

Services continue to their strong hold in the second spot of medals tally.

Madhya Pradesh teenage pole vaulter Dev Kumar Meena scaled a height of 5.16m to not only clinch the gold medal in the National Games 2023 but also qualified for the World U20 Athletics Championships to be held next year.

The 18-years-old from the agricultural belt of Dewas in Madhya Pradesh unsuccessfully attempted to cross 5.20m at the Bambolim Athletics stadium but said the competition was a valuable learning experience.

“The World U20 scheduled to be held in Lima will be a good opportunity for me to further scale new heights,” said the trainee of Madhya Pradesh Athletics Academy in Bhopal.

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The sprinter-turned-pole vaulter, was spotted in November 2020 by the talent search team of the Madhya Pradesh government. He was initially selected for short sprints, but later switched to pole vault as he showed more interest in the jumping event.

“He (Meena) has good fundamentals to be a jumper, ” Sanjay Garnaik, former head of the Bhopal athletics academy said. “He showed interest in pole vault and has made good progress in the last two years.”

As soon as Virdhawal Khade touched the wall to pip India’s upcoming swimming sensation Srihari Nataraj for the 50m freestyle gold in the National Games 2023 on Tuesday night, the 32-year-old Maharashtra swimmer could not stop himself from pumping the air with gusto.

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It was quite clear from the celebration that the gold medal winning performance meant something more for the man who became the youngest Indian swimmer to qualify for the Olympic Games back in 2008. He had then ended India’s 24-year wait for a swimming medal at the Asian Games in 2010 with a bronze in 50m butterfly.

And Virdhawal Khade, popularly known as Veer on the swimming circuit, revealed that the National Games are mostly likely to be his last outing as a competitive swimmer in India and he wanted to end things on a high.

“What is also special about this medal is that I won my first national medal back in 2001 in Goa and today it feels like life’s come full circle with the Gold medal at my last Nationals again in Goa.

“Back then, I could never have imagined I would become the swimmer that I am today, so I really want to thank all the coaches and all the people who have been a part of this journey,” said one of India’s most decorated swimmer.

Khade had announced his arrival on the national scene at the Junior Nationals in Margao in 2001 and broke multiple national records in the years to come. The demands of his job with the Maharashtra government followed by a knee injury meant that the Kolhapur-born swimmer lost out a few years when at his peak.

However, he made a strong comeback in 2018 and went on to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. Khade got emotional as he reflected on his journey from being a talented youngster back in 2001 to returning to Goa as veteran before explaining his decision of stopping soon.

“At heart, I still feel young, but the body is feeling tired now. Too many years have gone by, and I’ve swum too much in this span. I don’t recover as quickly as I once used to.