KIYG 2025: Odisha’s Harshbardhan Sahu, Maharashtra’ s Asmita Dhone create national youth records

ODISHA’S Harhbardhan Sahu made history on Saturday by creating two youth national records to clinch gold in the ongoing Khelo India Youth Games at the Rajgir Sports Complex.

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Harshbardhan’s lift of 115kg in clean & jerk and overall total of 203kg are both national youth records, surpassing last year’s mark held by Babulal Hembrom (Snatch 88 + 114 clean & jerk) of Jharkhand at the IWF World Youth Championships in Suva, Fiji.

There was another flurry of national youth records in the last event on Saturday. In girls’ 49kg, Asmita Dhone stamped her authority by creating a youth national record thrice with a lift of 91kg, 95kg and 97kg to capture gold for Maharashtra with a total lift of 170kg (73+93). Uttar Pradesh’s Mansi Chamunda (75+88) of Uttar Pradesh and Pooja Sanjay Thepekar (60+72) settled for silver and bronze, respectively.

Harsbardhan, who trains at Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) NIS Patiala, had just returned with a bronze medal from World Youth Championships in Lima, Peru on May 6. Continuing the momentum, Harsbardhan began with an 82kg lift in snatch and followed it up with 85kg and 88kg. In Clean & Jerk, he seemed most confident completing a 108kg lift in his very first attempt, 8kg higher than his closest rival Niklesh Lakra of Jharkhand.

He then lifted 112kg and eventually 115kg to set a new national youth record and lay his hands on the gold medal. At the World Youth Championships, Harsbardhan had lifted a total of 197kg (87+110kg).