India continues dominance with 76 Gold

Guwahati : Host country India continued their dominates in the 12th South Asian Games (SAG) with 76 Gold and secured top in medal tally followed by Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Indian athletes had bagged 76 Gold, 36 Silver and 10 Bronze while Sri Lanka won 17 Gold, 37 Silver, 33 Bronze and Pakistan bagged 5 Gold, 12 Silver, 20 Bronze.

On the fifth day of the multi sporting event, India dominated in athletics event and the athletes of the host country won five Gold.

India opened its account with gold medal in Women’s Shot Put. Manpreeth Kaur senior won Gold while Manpreet Kaur junior took Silver medal and Sri Lanka W.T.K.Fernando was placed third and won the Bronze medal.

In the Long Jump Indian Women captured Gold and Silver medal. Mayookha Jhony won Gold, Shradha Ghule Bhaskar won Silver and S.L.S. Silva of Sri Lanka settles with Silver medal.

In the Hammer Throw, Neeraj Kumar of India won the Gold while Shakeel Ahmed of Pakistan won Silver and LADE P Alansan of Sri Lanka bagged the Bronze.

Indian Archery team won all the five gold medals in the recurve event at 12th South Asian Games in Shillong today. India also begs two silver medals in individual categories of Men and Women.

The Women’s team comprising Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi and Laxmirani Majhi defeated the Sri Lankan trio Dilhara Salgado, Anuradha Karunaratne and Suchini Ubeysiri, without losing a set by 6-0.While, the Men archers team of India consisting of Jayanta Talukdar, Tarundeep Rai and Gurucharan Besra beat Sri Lankan team comprising Nipuna Senevirathne, Indranath, Sajeev De Silva by 5-1.

In the Mixed Recurve category, Indian pair of Tarundeep Rai and Deepika Kumari routed the Sri Lankan duo Dilhara Salgado, Nipuna Senevirathne by 6-0.In the Men's Individual Recurve event final, Tarundeep Rai won gold while his Indian opponent Gurucharan Besra won silver.In the Women’s category; Deepika won gold and silver went to her teammate Bombayla Devi.In the Recurve Individual Men and Women event Nepalese Prem Prasad Pun and Bhutanese Karma won the Bronze. Recurve Mixed Team Bhutanese player Karma and Jigme Norbu won Bronze.Bhutanese women team Karma, Sonam Deki, Sonam Dema and Men’s Jigme Norbu, Kinly Tshering, Nima Wangdi won Bronze in the Recurve Women and Men Team Event.

All in all, India walked away with the most medals with 10 Gold and 4 Silver Medals, as Bangladesh got 3 Silver and 3 Bronze Medals and placed in second position. Bhutan positioned 3rd with a total of 5 Medals, 1 Silver and 4 Bronze, while Sri Lanka got only 2 Silver Medals, Nepal had to content with only 1 Bronze Medal.

In the 100 Km Individual Road cycling Race event Sri Lankan Jeevan Manjula Jayasinghe Silva PIlippenge clinched Gold medal, Pankaj Kumar of India won the Silver and Nisar Ahmed of Pakistan won the Bronze.

In the 80 Km Individual Road cycling Race event Indian Women clinched all three medals today. Bidyaluxmi Tourangbam won the Gold, Lidiyamol Sunny Menamparambil won the Silver medal while Bronze medal won by Geethu Raj NN.

In Weightlifting Individual competition (105 kg) Pakistani weightlifter lifted Gold medal. Md Nooh Dastgir Butt defeated Indian weightlifter Gurdeep Singh and captured Gold. Gurdeep Singh bagged the Silver medal and Sri Lankan Saman Abeywickrama Avimedille Gedara won the Bronze medal.

Sushila Panwar of India secured another gold medal for Indian team in the last day of weightlifting competition at Bhogeshwari Phukanani Indoor Stadium, Guwahati.

Sushila Panwar lifted a total weight of 198 kg in +75 kg women body weight category.

She was followed by Ishani Annushka Kaluthanthri of Sri Lanka (Silver medal) with a total lift of 173 kg and Tara Devi Pun of Nepal (Bronze medal) with a total lift of 165 kg.

Medal tally in women section rose to 6 gold medals and 6 gold medals in men section in weightlifting.

Bangladesh rallied to a second successive victory with a 2-0 routing over Maldives in a South Asian Games 2016 women's football match at the Jawaharlal Nehru after 14-year old debutant Marzia scored the opening goal three minutes after the restart.

After gaining only one point from their previous two matches, Maldives settled for a more aggressive approach with their midfield and forward line moving up the pitch more often than not in the first forty five minutes of play. However, it was Bangladesh that completely stole the show in the second half with two goals. Fourteen year old midfielder Marzia, making her starting XI debut with the senior team, placed Bangladesh in the lead with a 48th minute goal from within the area.

Marzia nearly added one more goal to her tally in the 59th minute but her attempt to score was thwarted by a crowded Maldivian defence. Two minutes later, she was handed a third opportunity with a long ranger that found Maldives keeper Aishath Razzaq's fingertips before the ball deflected off the bar.

Bangladesh hammered the final nail in the coffin in the 73rd minute when the in-form captain Sabina Khatun delivered a free kick that sailed into the nets, thereby finishing the match with a 2-0 result.

In in Wushu, India scored four straight wins out of six to reach the finals of the Sanshuo round which will be held tomorrow at the Rising Sun Sports Complex of the Assam Rifles in picturesque Laitkor in the suburbs of Shillong. Uchit Sharma, Ravi Panchal, Surya Bhanu Singh and Mukesh Choudhury are expected to make the country proud on Wednesday when the finals take place.

Displaying sheer grit and determination all five wushuists representing host India overcame their opponents with ease in the 52, 56, 60, 65, 70 and 75 kg categories thereby bringing them closer to the coveted Gold medal at the 12th South Asian Games.

In the 52 kg category, Uchit Sharma defeated Karim Faqri of Afghanistan. Sharma will face Zahoor Ahmed of Pakistan who earlier on beat G Amila Prasanga of Sri Lanka in the semi final rounds.

Ravi Panchal then went on to beat Shafiq Shaka of Afghanistan in the 56 kg category and is all set to face a defiant Rajesh Chaudhry of Nepal who in his semi final round defeated HLK Pushpkumara of Sri Lanka.

In the 60 kg category also the Indian Wushuist Surya Bhanu Singh beat his Afghanistan counterpart Khalid Hotak. His face off will be PN Balawardhana of Sri Lanka who beat against MD Milon Ali in the semi final today.

In the 70 kg category the showdown will be between Mukesh Choudhury and Maz Khan of Pakistan. While Choudhury defeated another Aghanistan Wushuist Maruf Haidari, Khan his Bangladesh counterpart D Anisur Rahman.

The story for India however was not so rosy in the 65 kg category when Arun Nagar lost to Syed Maratib of Pakistan. Maratib will now face Shekib Haidari of Afghanistan who earlier on beat Nepal’s Saroj Pun.

Meanwhile, in the 75 kg category Rashid Minhas of Pakistan reached the final by defeating SGR Rumesh of Sri Lanka and his final faceoff will be against Khairullah Laizad of Afghanistan who beat another Indian Pradeep Kumar.

In the medal tally, Bangladesh secured fourth position with 3 Gold followed by Nepal with a Gold.
(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)