Despite faltering in 100m relays, India wins 7 gold

On a day when Sri Lankan athletes completed their domination over hosts in the 100 metres sprint events, India added seven gold medals to boost their medal tally to 12 gold medals. Overall, the hosts have won 32 medals, including 14 silver and 7 bronze medals.

Sri Lankan sprinters once again showed that they were better than India’s young sprinters as they won both the men’s and women’s 4x100 relay events on Saturday, relegating the hosts to a disappointing second place finish. On Friday, Chamod Yodasingheghe and Mohammad Yamick won the men’s and women’s gold medals, respectively.

On Saturday, the Sri Lankan men’s team clocked 39.99 seconds in the penultimate event of the night to win the gold medal. India finished second with a timing of 40.65s, while Bangladesh won the bronze medal with a timing of 40.94s.

While they faltered in the sprint events, India’s middle distance runners and quarter-milers, especially the women, pulled their weight to pull some impressive results.

None better than Sanjana Singh, who completed a double by winning the women’s 1500m competition. Sanjana, who had won the 5,000m gold on the first day, was struggling in the last leg as Sri Lanka’s WKL Arachch Nimali mounted a rear guard action. However, Sanjana, who trains in Rohtak, found a second wind to finish ahead with a timing of 4:25.36. Arachch finished closely behind with a timing of 4:25.52. India’s Kajal Kanwade finished in the bronze medal position by clocking 4:26.26.

“I was struggling before the last bend as my spike was hitting the runners behind,” Sanjana said. “When I saw I was getting behind, I had to push really hard to finish first. I am happy with my second gold medal but I could have run a better race today,” she added.

In the men’s field, it was Arjun Waskale who finished ahead of Sri Lankan duo Gallage Rusiru C and Rojideen Mohamathu to win the gold. Waskale clocked 3:54.58.

Neeru wins 400m

Similarly, Neeru Pathak, who won the 400m women’s individual gold medal, struggled to push for a powerful finish. Although in the lead, Neeru was struggling to break free from Mendis Balapuwa, but the quarter-miler pulled every ounce of strength in her to win with a timing of 53.15 seconds. In fact, it was an India one-two at the podium as the second Indian in the fray, Olimba Steffi (54.13s), pipped Balapuwa at the finish line to win the silver medal.

In the men’s 110m hurdles final, which was the first final of the day, India’s Manav R registered a new meet record as he won the gold medal with a timing of 13.788 seconds. The previous record of 14.21s was recorded in 1998 by M Perera. Roshan Ranatungage finished second with a timing of 13.90s, followed by Krishik M who clocked 14.01s.

In the men’s discus event, India’s Kirpal Singh and Nirbhay Singh won the gold and silver by registering best throws of 56.22m and 56.00m, respectively. Sri Lankan WDM Milant Sampat finished third with a best attempt of 49.35m.

Seema and Nidhi did a similar feat in the women’s discus competition by winning the gold and silver medals. Seema edged Nidhi to the top position with a best throw of 55.14m. Sri Lanka’s Asgiriye Gedara V finished third with a

best throw of 43.01m.