Guwahati : The Indian juggernaut rolled on unabated as the star-studded boxing squad joined the shooters, triathlon and taekwondo players in what is turning out to be an outing of unprecedented dominance by the host country at the 12th South Asian Games on Saturday.
Indian shooters grabbed all the six gold on offer while triathlon players joined the party by winning both the gold and two silver as the hosts swept aside the challenge from other countries.
India stood atop with 268 medals (156 gold, 85 silver and 27 bronze), way ahead of second placed Sri Lanka 163 (25, 55, 83). Pakistan were at third with 81 medals (9, 27, 45).
Omkar Singh (men’s 10m air pistol), Rahi Sarnobat (women’s 25m pistol) and Anjum Moudgil (women’s 50m rifle 3 positions) clinched a gold each, while India also bagged the top spot in all three team events at the Kahilipara Shooting Range here.
Indians finished 1-2 in both men’s and women’s individual triathlon events at the Sarusajai Sports Complex. Dilip Kumar bagged the men’s individual event gold with a time of 2:02:53, while compatriot Guru Datta won the silver in 2:05:31. Nuwan Kumara of Sri Lanka took the bronze in 2:10:38.
In the women’s individual event, Pallavi Retiwala won the gold with a time of 1:11:57, while team-mate Pooja Chaurushi got the silver in 1:12:36. K C Roja of Nepal took the bronze in 1:16:00.
In Shillong, Indian pugilists remained on course to bag the 10 gold medals on offer as all of them advanced to the semifinals with easy wins over their respective opponents.
Star boxers Devendro Singh and Shiva Thapa bludgeoned their way to convincing wins over their hapless opponents, Tashi Wangdi of Bhutan, and Nepal’s Shrestha Dinesh, respectively. Asian gold medallist Vikas Krishnan also tasted success on the first day of event. So were Laishram Sarita Devi, Pooja Rani Devi, Madan Lal, Dheeraj (60kg), Mandeep Jangra (69kg).
Five-time world champion M C Mary Kom got a first round bye and the London Olympics bronze medallist will face Bangladesh’s Shamina Akter in the semis today.
India bagged one gold, one silver and a bronze to begin their campaign on a rousing note in taekwondo.
The Indian men and women football teams qualified for the finals of their respective events after comprehensive wins over their counterparts from Bangladesh. While the men recorded an easy 3-0 result, the women thrashed their opponents 5-1 to secure a place in the title clash.
India’s men and women kabaddi teams maintained their unbeaten run with comfortable victories over their Pakistani rivals to storm into the semifinals.
In the women’s 25m pistol final, Sarnobat won the gold medal match against compatriot Annuraj Singh with eight points to two, while Anisa Sayyed took the bronze by prevailing over Farhat Nasreen of Pakistan.
India took the team event gold with Sarnobat, Anisa and Annuraj scoring a total of 1741. Sri Lanka (1654) and Pakistan (1631) got the silver and bronze respectively.
There was a tough fight for the gold in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions between Moudgil and Elizabeth Susan Koshy. Moudgil was the better of the two in the kneeling position but Koshy made up the deficit with a strong show in prone.
But, Moudgil took control in the standing position and had taken such a huge lead, that even a very poor 8.0 in the gold medal deciding round could not stop her from grabbing the top spot with a total score of 452.2. Koshy was second with a total of 451.9 while another Indian, Lajja Gauswami, took the bronze.
Moudgil, Koshy and Gauswami then shot down the gold in the team event with a total score of 1726. Sri Lanka (1686) and Pakistan (1656) won the silver and bronze respectively.
