Raipur, March 30: Arunachal Pradesh’s middle-distance runner Nedi Ngi clinched the women’s 5000m gold while Maharashtra completed an impressive 1-2 in the men’s category before rain forced the organisers to cancel the evening session on the opening day of athletics competitions of the Khelo India Tribal Games here Monday.
Ngi held herself back till the last lap before sprinting in the final 200m to seal the gold medal with a time of 18:24.66s while Maharashtra’s Govind Padekar (15:11.35s) and Suraj Mashi (15:11.64s) paced themselves perfectly to clinch the gold and silver medals respectively in the men’s 5000m category.
“I am making a comeback after focusing on academics and I am extremely happy that I could win the gold medal here. Now that I have completed my graduation, I want to focus on getting in to the National Camp and then hopefully in the Indian team for major events,” Ngi told SAI Media after the race.
Ngi’s gold medal-winning performance helped Arunachal Pradesh consolidate their third spot in the medals tally with six golds, one silver and two bronze.
Karnataka extended their lead at the top of the table with two gold medals from the wrestling mat in Ambikapur.
Wrestler Rohan Doddamani bagged Karnataka’s first gold medal outside the swimming pool when he defeated Rajasthan’s Dinesh Solanki by technical superiority in the 60kg greco roman final.
Manisha then wrapped up the day for the table toppers with a hard fought 12-8 win by points over Himachal Pradesh’s Muskam.
Karnataka now has 17 gold, six silver and five bronze medals. Odisha continue to be in second place with nine gold, four silvers and 10 bronze medals.
Meanwhile, Mulayam Kharwar bagged Bihar’s first gold medal of the day with a dominant win over Rakesh Meena of Rajasthan in the men’s 65kg freestyle final with KV Kemppannavar of Karnataka taking home the bronze medal.
At the international hockey stadium in Raipur, favourites Odisha set up a final clash against Mizoram. In the semi-finals, Odisha hammered Madhya Pradesh 8-0 while Mizoram got the better of Jharkhand 3-2. (PTI)
