Allahabad’s Mohammed Anas led an Uttar Pradesh 1-2 in the boy’ all-around gymnastics medals in the inaugural Khelo India School Games at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here today. The 16-year-old finished with 66.50 points after solid efforts in floor exercises and vault helped him build insurance for a sub-par show on the parallel bars.

His school-mate Ankur Sharma, who turned in a heart-warming display on the parallel bars, claimed silver with 65.90 points to give Khelgaon Public School a one-two. Delhi’s Tushar Kalyan was awarded the bronze medal with 62.85 points despite finishing below three other Uttar Pradesh gymnasts – Raj Yadav (65.40), Vaibhav Chaurasia (64.60) and Mohammed Rafey (63.85) as the rules permit the two best from each State to qualify for the All-Around medals.

Anas made his intentions clear when he entered the arena for his first routine, the Floor exercises. He finished on top of the heap, with only Delhi’s Tushar Kalyan coming within hailing distance. Anas was second best to Maharashtra’s Manesh Sanjay on the Pommel Horse and third on the Roman Rings after Uttar Pradesh team-mate Vaibhav Chaurasia and Uttarakhand’s Sandip Pal.

From here on, it was only a question of pushing on with intent and ensuring that he would make no mistake. A splendid effort on the Vault – 13.05 points, the best score of the morning across all apparatus – helped him breathe easy despite being aware that the Parallel Bars routine was his weakest suit. A steady effort on the horizontal bar gave him a well-deserved gold.

The results (final):
Boys All-Around: 1. Mohammed Anas (Uttar Pradesh) 66.50 (Floor - 12.50; Pommel Horse 11.20; Roman rings – 10.35; Vault – 13.05; Parallel bars – 8.50; Horizontal bar – 10.90); 2. Ankur Sharma (Uttar Pradesh) 65.90; 3. Tushar Kalyan (Delhi) 62.85.