Hosts bag seven gold medals
Shillong: India opened their campaign in style almost making a clean sweep in the eight weight categories of judo contested in the 12th South Asian Games at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Sports Hall here on Monday.
India’s gold medal winners in the women’s division were Shushila Devi Likmabam (under-48kg), Kalpana Devi Thoudam (U-52kg) and Anita Chanu Angom (U-57kg), while Bhupinder Singh (U-60kg), Jasleen Singh Saini (U-66kg), Manjeet Nandal (U-73kg) and Karanjit Singh Maan (U-81kg) took gold in the men’s division.
The only gold medal that India could not secure was in the women’s U-63kg category, where Sunibala Devi Huidrom was pipped by Phupu Lhamu Khatri of Nepal.
The women’s U-52kg, U-57kg and U-63kg were held in a round robin format as there were only five entrants each, while the others were conducted in a knockout format.
Lhamu Khatri outscored Sunibala 310 to 300 to claim gold in the U-63kg category. Ambreen Masih (Pakistan) and DYL Wijewardene (Sri Lanka) were awarded bronze.
In U-52 women’s category, Kalpana Devi claimed gold over Lila Adhikari (Nepal) with a score of 310 to 300. Iran Shahzadi (Pakistan) and Tahamida Tabass Jerin (Bangladesh) got the bronze.
In the U-57kg Nepal’s Manita Shrestha Pradhan lost out to Anita Chanu 300 to 310. Shumaila Gul (Pakistan) and KLMPK Liyanage (Sri Lanka) claimed bronze.
Only the U-48kg category had a final in the women’s category in which Likmabam had a tough fight against Pakistan’s Humaira Ashiq. The bout was decided by ‘Golden Score’ after the regulation four minutes ended all square at 0-0. An extra 73 seconds were required before Likmabam pinned her opponent for the win. MP Sandamali (Sri Lanka) and Sarita Chaudhary (Nepal) got bronze.
In the men’s events, three of India’s judokas had to get past Afghanistan opponents in the finals.
The first, the U-60kg bout, saw Bhupinder beat Ali Popalzai with a single point, while Pakistan’s Mudassir Ali and Nepal’s Indra Bahadur Shrestha picked up bronze.
It was an Indo-Afghan final in the U-66kg category with the hosts victorious once again as Saini beat Mohammad Reshad Aryan 2-0. Bronze went to Babar Hussain (Pakistan) and Ramesh Magar (Nepal).
The third men’s final, in the U-73kg category, barely lasted a minute and a half after Nandal flipped RCN Darmawardene of Sri Lanka for an automatic victory. Imtiaz Hussain (Pakistan) and Abdul Manan Mkhadom (Afghanistan) claimed bronze.
In the U-81kg category Karanjit threw down Afghanistan’s Ajmal Faiz Zada in the final, leaving the latter with silver. Qaiser Khan (Pakistan) and Md Habibur Rahman (Bangladesh) got the bronze.