Asian Games gold medallist Palak Gulia of Haryana and Rutuja Bhosale of Maharashtra bagged their second gold medal of the 37th National Games in shooting and tennis respectively as the race for the top of the table heated up with four days left for the closing ceremony.
Gulia added the women’s 10m Air Pistol gold to her 10m air pistol mixed team gold at the Mandrem Shooting range to take third-placed Haryana’s gold medal tally to 47. Maharashtra continued to remain on top of the medal tally with a total of 186 medals including 65 gold, 59 silver and 62 bronze while Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) are second with 52 gold medals. However, with Haryana expected to win at least 7-8 gold medals from boxing and a few more in shooting, they are sure to push for the top spot.
Haryana took all the three medals in the 10m Air Pistol event with Rhythm Sangwan and Drishti Sangwan clinching the silver and bronze respectively.
Another Asian Games gold medallist, Abhay Singh representing Tamil Nadu, showcased his class by defeating his state mate and second seed Velavan Senthilkumar 11-7, 12-10, 11-6 to clinch the men’s singles squash gold.
Goa’s Akanksha Salunkhe added one more gold to the state’s tally after the second seed beat Tamil Nadu’s Pooja Arthi 11-5, 11-4, 11-3 in the final at the Chicalim multipurpose stadium.
Meanwhile, Bhosale added a mixed doubles title to her women’s doubles crown on Sunday, partnering Arjun Kadhe. The Maharashtra duo defeated Tamil Nadu’s N Jeevan and C Sai Samitha 6-3, 6-1 to clinch the gold medal.
Sidharth Vishwakarma beat Sidharth Rawat 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 in an all Uttar Pradesh final to win the gold in the men’s singles final while top seed Vaidehi Chaudhari secured the gold in the women’s category beating Telangana’s Rashmika Srivali 7-5, 7-6.
Punjab’s Parinaaz Dhaliwal and Angad Bajwa bagged the Skeet Mixed team gold at the Pernem Shooting Range. Zahra Deesawala and Munek Batula of Telangana clinched the silver while Mairaj Khan and Areeba Khan of Uttar Pradesh won the bronze.
Earlier in the day, Haryana women beat West Bengal by a solitary goal to clinch the bronze in women’s football at the Tilak Maidan in Vasco. Manipur will face off against Odisha in the finals that will be played later in the day.
At the Chapora River, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha won the remaining gold medals in Canoeing and Kayaking. Manaswani won the Individual Kayak while Kaveri Dimar and Shivani Verma paired together to win the gold in Canoe Pair for Madhya Pradesh. Odisha’s pair of Fulmani Xaxa and Oinam Bidya Devi won the other gold in Kayak pair.
In the triathlon competition at Miramar beach, last edition’s champion Pragnya Mohan of Gujarat broke the pedal of her cycle and was later disqualified despite finishing second because she took external help
This meant that Maharashtra completed a 1-2 with Mansi Mohite claiming the gold with a time of 1:14.06s and Sanjana Joshi taking the silver with a time of 1:17.50s. Manipur’s Thoudam Sorojini finished third with a time of 1:18.33s.
