Raipur, March 31: Jharkhand sprinters Shiv Kumar Soren and Prithvi Oraon emerged as the fastest men and women athletes respectively in the inaugural edition of the Khelo India Tribal Games here on Tuesday.
For hosts Chhattisgarh, Siddharth Nagesh clinched a shot put gold and discus throw silver while Tilak Barsel bagged the men’s 100m silver.
Shiv Kumar and Prithvi led their 100m races respectively from start to finish to capture the golden double for their state. Shiv Kumar clocked 10.58 seconds while Barsel finished the race in 10.87 seconds to clinch the silver medal. Odisha’s Atish Kindo (10.91 seconds) took the bronze medal.
In the women’s 100m final, 16-year-old Prithvi clocked her personal best of 12.73 seconds to clinch the gold.
Nagaland’s Ruduolhounuo Belho (12.90 seconds) and Jharkand’s Putul Bakshi (13.03 seconds) took home the silver and bronze medals respectively.
“I was confident of winning a medal as I had done well in the selection trials for the Games. Today, I focused on giving my best and I am happy that I could set my personal best time,” said Prithvi after the race.
For the hosts, Siddharth began the day with a silver medal in men’s discus throw, clearing a distance of 35.56m. Gujarat’s Danish Makvana bagged the gold with a throw of 44.83m while Chandray Murmu of Odisha (33.97m) won the bronze.
In the evening session, Nagesh grabbed the shot put gold, clearing a distance of 13.52m. Danish Makvana got the silver with a throw of 13.04m.
Hosts Chhattisgarh also reached the women’s football final after beating Arunachal Pradesh in a penalty shootout.
Chhattisgarh will take on Jharkhand in the summit clash after the latter defeated Gujarat 9-0 in a dominant show.
With last evening’s athletics session cancelled due to unseasonal rains in Jagdalpur, it was a packed morning session with seven finals. The long jump final kept the spectators at the edge of their seats.
It was Abdul Fathah who had the last laugh in a keen contest with Bhima Sardar of Odisha as the 26-year-old became the first long jumper from Lakshadweep to clear the 7m mark.
He leaped to a distance of 7.03 in the final attempt to clinch the gold medal with Bhima taking home silver with an effort of 6.96m. Odisha’s Jivan Bilung bagged the bronze medal with a distance of 6.95m.
On the track, the men’s 400m final witnessed a photo-finish. Odisha’s Nobal Kumar Kissan’s last-ditch dive at the finish line was not enough for him to beat eventual champion Santoshbhai Ganvit of Gujarat.
Ganvit clocked a time of 49.332 seconds while Nobal finished second with a time of 49.335 seconds. Karnataka’s Ramu took the bronze with a time of 49.60 seconds.
Manasi Kunkalka opened Goa’s gold medal account by winning the women’s shot put gold with a distance of 9.72m. Bihar’s Anamika Gond (9.50m) and Meghalaya’s Melibadkro (9.43m) took home silver and bronze medals respectively.
Karnataka continue to lead the medals tally with 19 gold, seven silver and seven bronze while Odisha are second with 13 gold, eight silver and 15 bronze medals.
Jharkhand jumped to the third spot in the overall rankings after adding the women’s 4x100m gold and men’s 77kg Greco Roman gold to take their tally to seven gold, two silver and five bronze.
Chhattisgarh took the 10th place in the medals tally with two gold, seven silver and four bronze medals. (PTI)
