Jaipur, Dec. 3 -- Reigning Asian champion high jumper Pooja underlined the Khelo India University Games (KIUG) 2025 as the perfect springboard for her return to competition, breaking the Meet Record with a 1.77 m effort to clinch gold in her maiden appearance. Competing at Jaipur's Sawai Mansingh Stadium, the 18-year-old looked assured in her first outing after an ankle injury kept her out for nearly five months, using the event to recalibrate before shifting her attention to the far bigger target, the 2026 Asian Games.
Earlier this year, the 18-year-old had scripted history by becoming only the second Indian woman after Bobby Aloysius to win the Asian Championship high jump gold, scaling a personal best of 1.89 metres. Born to a mason in ...