Maharashtra's Sanyukta makes clean sweep

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 7

Maharashtra’s Sanyukta Kale won all five gold medals in rhythmic gymnastics to emerge as the brightest star in the ongoing Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) here today.

Sixteen-year-old Sanyukta’s clean sweep helped Maharashtra (24 gold, 22 silver, 17 bronze) edge past Haryana (23 gold, 20 silver, 29 bronze).

The hosts added only six gold today as their boys went down fighting in the kabaddi and volleyball finals much to the dismay of their fans.

The 16-year-old gymnast, Sanyukta, clinched gold medals in all-round, hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon rhythmic events.

“I am happy with my performance, but my main focus is now to make it to the Indian team for the Commonwealth Games and then aim to qualify for the Paris Olympics,” said Sanyukta from Thane.

Celestina equals her own record

Meanwhile, Celestina equalled her own record in the KIYG as she pedals away to her third gold at the IG Velodrome in New Delhi. Earlier, the 19-year-old girl had collected her first two gold medals (Team Sprint with Tina Maya and Individual Sprint 200m events). She rounded up her tally clinching the keirin 1500m gold to match her own 2020 Khelo Games tally.

Maharashtra athletes bring laurels

Maharashtra won both 4x100 relays, girls’ 100m, boys’ high jump. Sadanand Kumar of Jharkhand was crowned the fastest boy of the meet as he won the 100m in 10.63sec, while Maharashtra’s Sudeshna Shivankar dominated the girls’ 100m event by clocking 11.79 seconds. She then came back to anchor the 4x100m relay team for a gold immediately after the boys achieved the same feat.

Arjun Waskale from Madhya Pradesh bagged the first gold on the track by clinching the boys’ 1500m race (3:51.57 seconds). Huidrom Bhumeshwory Devi of Manipur showcased her sprinting ability in the last lap to win the girls’ 1500m race (4:40.40 seconds).

Earlier, in the boys’ kabaddi final, Himachal Pradesh fought back in the second half to beat hosts Haryana in extra time. The two teams went neck-and-neck in the first half. But the hosts looked like running away with the match when they opened up a 10-point lead with just under five minutes left for full time. But Himachal began closing the gap, first with a spectacular tackle and then with a super raid. They then packed off the entire Haryana team to level the scores at 34-34 at full time.

The Himachal players then kept their cool to catch all five Haryana raiders while one of their own scored a bonus point to seal the victory.

In athletics, Maharashtra (42.85s) won the 4x100m gold, followed by Jharkhand (43.27s) and Haryana (43.46s). In 100m race, Sadanand Kumar (10.63s) clocked a new meet record by defeating the previous timing of 10.65s. Aditya Singh (10.77s) finished second and Anshu Kumar (10.79s) claimed third position.

A maulvi in Kashmir rescuing thang-ta

Mohammed Iqbal faced an unusual challenge when he tried to draw youngsters to the fascinating sport of thang-ta in Jammu & Kashmir. “Twenty years ago, I was a private trainer and was offering free classes to boys and girls,” Iqbal, now a revered coach in the state, said as his team competed in the Khelo India Youth Games here.

“The locals objected to girls joining my classes. Many of them responded aggressively and kept disrupting our sessions,” he disclosed. But then, the head of a local mosque where Iqbal lived came to his rescue. “The maulvi and several school principals vouched for my character and assured the agitators that I would take good care of the children, and here I am,” he said. It helped that the girls loved the sport and each was determined to stick on despite the opposition.

Minister reaches stadium, police turn proactive

While everything was proceeding normally at Tau Devi Lal Stadium on Tuesday, the Panchkula traffic cops suddenly started towing away vehicles parked inside the arena. The police swung into action soon after knowing the arrival of Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur at the arena hosting kabaddi matches. Not only the cops swung late into action, but also the media fraternity was stopped from moving around the arena hosting the kabaddi finals. Former Indian long jumper and Athletics World Championships Bronze medallist Anju Bobby George also accompanied Thakur.

Athletics

Boys

400M: Suraj A (48.85s), Abinesh (48.99s), Abhishek Gurjar (49.08s)

1500m: Arjun Waskale (3:51.57s), Ritesh Ohre (3:52.26s), Rijoy (3:55.48s)

Hammer throw: Nirbhay Choudhary (70.97m), Vinit (68.20m), Prateek (65.79m)

High jump: Aniket Mane (2.07m), Sandeep Kumar (2.04m), Aryan Patil (2.04m)

Shot put: Sanyam (20.44m), Anurag Kaler (20.02s), Siddharth Choudhary (19.84m)

Javelin throw: Vivek Kumar (70.73s), Himanshu Mishra (69.28s), Kuldeep Kumar (67.58s)

Pole vault: Sakthi R (4.80m), Tanuj Kumar (4.40m), Sandeep Kumar (4.30m)

Girls

4x100m: Maharashtra (47.27s), Karnataka (48.89s), Tamil Nadu (49.92s)

100m: Sudeshna Shivankar (11.79s), Avantika Narale (12.07s), Mayavathi N (12.23s)

400m: Kunja Rajitha (56.07s), Kanista Teena M (57.38s), Mugada Sireesha (58.00s)

1500m: H Bhumeshwory Devi (4:40.40s), Aakancha Kerketta (4:41.82s), Lalita (4:51.60s)

Shot put: Jasmine Kaur (16.12m), Vidhi (15.63s), Ramneet Kaur (14.84m)

Long jump: Susmita (5.80s), Meryl Mathew (5.71s), Sabita Toppo (5.60s)

Weightlifting

Boys

73kg: Kuldeep Sahu (269), Kiran Marathe (267), Probal Gogoi (261)

Girls

64kg: S Pallavi (189), Sonakshi (174), Anjali Devi (171)

71kg: Y Poornasri (176), Sanjana (173), Navdeep Kaur (172)

Kabaddi

Boys: 1st Himachal Pradesh, 2nd Haryana, 3rd Uttar Pradesh & Maharashtra

Girls: 1st Haryana, 2nd Maharashtra, 3rd Andhra Pradesh & Tamil Nadu

Gymnastics

Girls: Artistic gymnastics: 1st Anushka Jana, 2nd Eshita Rewale, 3rd Riddhi Hattekar

Badminton

Boys

Singles’ final: Darshan Pujari (Maharashtra) bt S Rithviksanjeevi (Tamil Nadu) 21-15, 22-20

Bronze medal match: D S Saneeth (Karnataka) bt Manav Choudhary (Haryana) 18-21, 21-19, 21-12.

Girls

Singles’ final: Unnati Hooda (Haryana) bt Tasnim Mir (Gujarat) 9-21, 23-21, 21-12

Bronze medal match: Devika Sihag (Haryana) bt Sakshi Phogat (Rajasthan) 18-21, 21-18, 21-10

Wrestling

Boys 71kg: 1st Ankit Gulia, 2nd Aman, 3rd Sanket & Atul Lohan

80kg: 1st Ankit, 2nd Aurangzeb Khan, 3rd Shubham Kumar & Chirag Dalal

51kg: 1st Narsingh Patil,2nd Rohit Patil,3rd Aman & Parashuram

65kg: 1st Shubham, 2nd Atul, 3rd Neeraj & Sourabh

Girls 49kg: 1st Priyanshi Prajapat, 2nd Komal, 3rd Ahilya Shinde & Madhuri Patel

69kg: 1st Kiran Hooda, 2nd Manasi, 3rd Srishti

Volleyball

Boys: 1st Tamil Nadu, 2nd Haryana, 3rd Rajasthan

Girls: 1st Tamil Nadu, 2nd Haryana, 3rd Gujarat

Shooting

Girls: 10M air pistol: 1st Tiyana Phogat, 2nd Palak, 3rd Shikha Narwal

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