GUWAHATI: India’s might found no challenge in the 12th South Asian Games with its archers, wrestlers and weightlifters clinching COUNTRY G S B TOTAL INDIA 53 20 6 79 SRI LANKA 11 27 23 61 PAKISTAN 4 11 14 29 BANGLADESH 3 7 21 31 NEPAL 1 4 7 12 AFGHANISTAN 0 2 5 7 BHUTAN 0 1 1 2 MALDIVES 0 0 1 1 (G: Gold, S: Silver, B: Bronze) SAG medals tally a majority of gold to ensure a third successive day of supremacy for the country, with the 1-2 loss to Pakistan in men’s hockey being the only blip here on Monday.
While compound archers scooped all five gold medals on offer, wrestlers also annihilated competition to grab five yellow metals out of six. Courtesy the strong showing by them, India continued to top the medals’ tally with a count of 79, which includes 53 gold, 20 silver and 6 bronze medals. There was however disappointment in men’s hockey as a lacklustre India suffered a 1-2 defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Pakistan in their much-anticipated group match. Muhammad Arslan Qadir scored both the goals for Pakistan in the 11th and 37th minutes while Indian captain Mandeep Antil pulled one back in the 55th minute of the match at the Moullana Tyabulla Stadium. In the squash competition, star player Joshna Chinappa clinched the gold in women’s individual event after beating Maria Toorpaki Wazir of Pakistan in a tense and ill-tempered summit clash. Top seed Chinappa, ranked 14th in the world, recovered from one set down to beat second seeded Wazir 10-12 11-7 11-9 11-7 at the brand new squash facility at the R G Baruah Sports Complex here. On the wrestling mat in Guwahati, Indian grapplers simply destroyed their opponents to finish with 14 gold medals out of a total 16 on offer. Despite being represented by a second string team, the home wrestlers proved too strong for their South Asian neighbours as they grabbed five more gold out of six on offer, besides a silver, on the concluding day at the R G Baruah Sports Complex. Indian wrestlers thus ended their campaign with a whopping 14 gold and two silver. India won gold in all the eight women’s categories, while their men counterparts won six gold and two silver. There was no stopping the weightlifters either as India grabbed all the four gold medal in yet another overwhelmingly dominating performance.
Victor Abilash Christopher (men’s 105kg), Pardeep (men’s 94kg), VIkas Thakur (men’s 85kg) and Kavita Devi (women’s 75kg) won a gold each as the home lifters ran away with all the honours. With the four gold, India have so far won 11 gold medals (6 in men and 5 women). The cyclists also brushed aside competition for a third day on the trot to win both the gold medals. The Indian teams won the women’s 40km time trial and men’s 70km time trial events to take their medal count to five gold, three silver and one bronze on the third and penultimate day of the cycling competitions here. In women’s 40km team time trial final, the Indian quartet of T Bidyaluxmi, Rutuja Satpute, G Manisha and Chaoba Devi bagged the gold in a time of Indian weightlifter Kavita Devi lifts successfully to win gold medal in 75 kg category at the 12th South Asian Games 2016 (SAG) in Guwahati on Monday. (PTI) 59:23.5secs. Sri Lanka and Pakistan took the silver and bronze respectively. In men’s 70km team time trial final, the home team of Arvind Panwar, Manjeet Singh, Deepak Kumar Rahi and Manohar Lal Bishnoi took the gold in one hour 29 minutes and 37.840 seconds. Medals trickled in from wushu competition in Shillong as well with M Punshiva Meitei clinching a gold medal and Swachacha Jatav bagging a silver in the men’s and women’s Nanquan events. India now have two gold, one silver and one bronze in their kitty. However, after two days of domination in the pool, India shared the spoils with Sri Lanka in the swimming competition. Both India and Sri Lanka won three gold medals each during the day, while Bangladesh won one. (PTI