Chandigarh girl Etisha bags gold in taekwondo at National Games
Chandigarh’s Etisha Das won gold in the taekwondo event of the ongoing National Games at Milam Hall in Haldwani. Etisha, who reportedly gained a direct entry from the federation, instead of the Chandigarh Olympic Association (COA), claimed the top podium position in the Under-73 kg weight category.
Payam Harshpradha of Telangana claimed the silver medal, while Laishram Priya Devi from Manipur and Harshika Joshi from Uttarakhand claimed joint bronze.
Etisha has represented the nation in the Taekwondo World Championships 2023. She has also won laurels in various Panjab University Inter-College Karate Tournaments and bagged gold in the All-India Inter-University Karate Meet.
Etisha reportedly failed to gain direct entry from the COA, owing to the infighting of the two federations. The COA officials claimed that they didn’t receive any names from the local taekwondo association as the matter of infighting between federations for getting affiliation is still pending with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
Meanwhile, Chandigarh runner Svati Pal claimed 7th position in the women’s 10,000m event. She clocked 38 minutes and 22.89 seconds (38:22.89s) to finish at seventh position. Sanjivani Jadhav (33:33.47s) of Maharashtra claimed first position, followed by Ankita Dhyani (34:31.03s) and Soniya (35:45.19s) from the home state. Ankita has represented India in the Paris Olympics in the 5000m event,
Gurinderveer fails to qualify
One of the country’s top 100m runner, Gurinderveer Singh of Punjab, who won titles in the Federation Cup and National Inter-State Championships last year, failed to qualify for the final. He finished third in heat number 2 with a below-par time of 10.96s. His personal best is 10.27s.
Sawan Barwal of Himachal Pradesh won gold in the men’s 10,000m final with a Games record of 28:49.93, bettering the earlier mark of 28:54.29 set by Gulveer Singh in the 2022 edition in Gujarat.
