India chug on unchallenged

Guwahati, February 10 

India’s remarkable domination continued uncontested for the fifth day as their shooters, swimmers, track-and-field athletes and wushu players annihilated the competition to sweep most of the gold medals up for grabs on the fifth day of the 12th South Asian Games here today.

The hosts were expected to dominate athletics, and that’s exactly what happened — the Indian athletes contributed 10 gold medals to the tally today. Mayookha Johny (triple jump), MR Poovamma (women’s 400m), Neeraj Chopra (men’s javelin throw), Rajiv Arokya (men’s 400m), Arjun (discus throw),  J Surendhar (men’s 110m hurdles), Gayathry (women’s 100m hurdles), Ankit Sharma (men’s long jump), Sahana Kumari (women’s high jump) and T Gopi (men’s 10,000m) clinched the yellow metal.

Earlier, in shooting, Apurvi Chandela led the charge as India grabbed six medals, including three gold, on the opening day of the shooting competitions.

Chandela easily shot down the gold in the women’s 10m air rifle with a total score of 209.00 points, while compatriots Elizabeth Susan Koshy and Pooja Ghatkar won the silver and bronze, respectively.

In the men’s 50m pistol event, however, India missed out on the gold medal with Om Prakash (187.3 points) bagging the silver and Olympics-bound Prakash Nanjappa finishing fourth. 

The gold was won by Bangladesh’s Sakil Ahmed (187.6 points). Prakash later said that he took part in the event despite having problems in his left eye. “I took part despite not being well. I have been feeling a burning sensation in my left eye for the last two days and I am taking antibiotics. So, I could not focus for long,” he said.

India also pocketed a gold each in the men’s 50m pistol team event and the women’s 10m air rifle team event. India’s men’s 50m pistol team comprised Omkar Singh, Nanjappa and Prakash, who shot a combined total of 1622.

Swimmers make a splash 

Indians capped off a dominant show in the pool as they picked up five gold medals on the final day of the event.

Seasoned swimmer Veerdhawal Khade clinched his first gold of the SAG by winning the men’s 50m butterfly race. Shraddha Sudhir won the women’s 200m medley final and Jyotsna Pansare won the women’s 50m butterfly final. Both the men’s and women’s 4x100 medley relay teams finished on top of the podium.

In total, India won five gold, three silver and one bronze.

Khade clinched the gold in the 50m butterfly in a Games record of 24.54 seconds. The Indian men’s 4x100m medley team also set a new Games record of 3 minutes, 49.78 seconds. Sri Lanka were initially declared the winners of the women’s 4x100m medley relay event. But they were later disqualified and India’s silver was upgraded to the gold medal.

India sweep TT event 

Reigning national champions Anthony Amalraj and Manika Batra clinched a hat-trick of gold medals each, helping India make a clean sweep in table tennis in the 12th South Asian Games.

India won seven gold and five silver medals in the discipline, which concluded today. 

Amalraj was leading 6-11, 11-6, 11-6 and was 2-2 in the fourth game when G Sathiyan conceded the match due to an injury. Five-time national champion Mouma Das denied reigning national champion Batra a fourth gold after winning 13-15, 12-10, 7-11, 15-13, 11-8, 11-13, 11-9 in a marathon final.

Earlier in the day, Batra added the women’s doubles crown, pairing with Pooja Sahasrabudhe to beat the more-experienced pair of Das and K Shamini 11-7, 13-11, 11-5 in the 30-minute final.

“The rivalry is only limited to the table. She has rich experience and gives me valuable inputs,” Batra said about Das.

In the men’s doubles final, Sathiyan and Devesh Karia defeated Amalraj and Sanil Shetty 11-1, 11-8, 11-6.

3 gold in tennis 

The Indian tennis players ruled the roost, picking up all the gold and silver medals on offer on the fourth and penultimate day of the event. India won gold medals in the women’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles.

In the men’s doubles final, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Vijay Prasanth defeated Divij Sharan and Sanam Singh 6-3 6-4. Ankita Raina then won the gold in the women’s singles, beating Prerna Bhambri 6-1 6-0 in the final. Raina then paired up with Sharan to win the gold in the mixed doubles after beating compatriots Sanam Singh and Prarthana Thombre 6-2 7-6(3) in the final.

Ruthvika stuns Sindhu 

Ruthvika Shivani stunned world No. 12 PV Sindhu in straight games to win the women’s singles gold medal, with India bagging seven gold and five silver medals from the badminton event.

Ruthvika registered the biggest win of her budding career when she bounced back from a 8-11 deficit to win 21-11, 22-20 in 36 minutes.

“I had never won a single game against her, forget about winning a match. It’s my most cherished win and I never expected this. These are tears of joy,” world No. 131 Ruthvika said.

“We train together (at the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad) and know each other well. She’s amazing and very strong physically, but today I played better.” 

India play Pak in hockey final

Gaganpreet Singh struck twice as the Indian men’s hockey team beat Sri Lanka 3-0 to set up a mouth-watering title clash with arch-rivals Pakistan.

Gagandeep Singh (11th minute) scored the first goal before Gaganpreet (34th, 64th) converted two penalty corners to seal an easy win. 

Earlier in the day, Pakistan mauled Bangladesh 6-0 to enter the summit clash.      Indian had lost 2-1 to Pakistan in their league match. — PTI