Pune: Srihari Nataraj emerged as the most prolific gold medal winner, as he added two more on Tuesday, to reach a total of seven at the Khelo India Youth Games.
With S.P. Likith picking up five, the Karnataka duo were the most decorated gold medallists of the Games.
Karnataka won a total of 21 swimming gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze for 51, while Delhi had 19 gold, 13 silver and 16 bronze for 48 and Maharashtra 18 gold, 15 silver and 10 bronze.
Yet the distribution was such that Maharashtra in Under-21 and Delhi in Under-17 were the winners of the combined team championships at the Balewadi Complex swimming pool.
In the overall tally, Maharashtra stayed way ahead of the pack with 64 gold, 51 silver and 62 bronze for a total of 177, while Delhi trailed in second place at 47 gold, 31 silver and 43 bronze and a total of 121. Haryana are third with 37 gold, 35 silver and 38 bronze for a total of 110.
Nataraj was a comfortable winner in both 50m backstroke and 100m freestyle. He faced no challenge in winning the 50m backstroke (Boys U-21) in 26.16 seconds with Goa’s Xavier D’Souza (26.74) more than half a second behind him. Haryana’s Vedant Seth (27.14) was third.
Nataraj won his second individual gold of the day in the 100m freestyle clocking 52.37 seconds. He again finished way ahead of D’Souza (53.15) and Maharashtra’s Aaron Fernandes (54.11).
Delhi’s Swadesh Mondal, who started the day with four gold medals already in his bag, added a fifth by winning the 200m breaststroke in the Boys U-17 event in 2:26.91. (IANS)
