SAG: 312 in total, India finish atop

Kathmandu, December 10

India ended its South Asian Games campaign with a best-ever medal haul of 312, continuing its undisputed domination in the regional multi-sporting event by finishing on top for the 13th time in a row here today.

India collected 174 gold, 93 silver and 45 bronze after ten days of competitions in the 13th edition to surpass the 309 (189 gold, 90 silver and 30 bronze) it had won in the previous edition in Guwahati and Shillong in 2016. But the number of gold India won this time was 15 less than the 2016 edition. India had sent 487 athletes in this edition.

Hosts Nepal stood a distant second with 206 medals (51 gold, 60 silver and 95 bronze) while Sri Lanka was third with 251 medals (40 gold, 83 silver and 128 bronze). On the concluding day on Tuesday, India added 18 medals (15 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze) with the boxers fetching six gold and 1 silver.

Indian cagers also fetched both the men's and women's basketball gold by defeating Sri Lanka (101-62) and hosts Nepal (127-46) in their respective summit clashes.

In squash, India won a gold and a silver in the women's and men's team events respectively.

Boxers on a roll

The day belonged to the Indian boxers who brought home a rich haul of 12 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze.

Vikas Krishan (men's 69kg) and Pinki Rani (women's 51kg) guided India to six more gold medals. Among men, Sparsh Kumar (52kg), Narender (+91kg) were the other boxers who bagged the top honours while Sonia Lather (57kg) and Manju Bamboriya (64kg) contributed to India's gold medal tally among women. Vikas completed his comeback in style with a resounding 5-0 win over Pakistan's Gul Zaib in men's 69kg. In the men's superheavyweight (+91kg) category, Narender too was equally impressive as he cruised to a 5-0 victory over Nepal's Ashish Duwadi.

All the women boxers in action won a gold. Sonia Lather (57kg) hardly broke a sweat and easily dominated the final against Sri Lanka's Krismi Ayoma Dulanj Lankapurayalage 5-0 to finish on top. Pinki Rani (51kg) and Manju Bamboriya (64kg) both stood out to bag the gold in hard-fought encounters. While Rani beat Nepal's Rai Mala 3-2, Bamboriya beat Punam Rawal by the same verdict. — PTI

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