Panaji: Maharashtra became the first team to cross the double century of medals in the 37th National Games to all but seal the top position in the medal standings with just two days to go for the closing ceremony.
The 200th medal came in Triathlon Mixed Relay at the Miramar Beach when women’s individual winner Mansi Mohite covered a deficit of almost two minutes in the anchor leg to help her team get the better of defending champions Tamil Nadu with a time of 1:51.19 sec on Tuesday.
This is Mohite’s fifth gold medal of the Games as she had won the gold in the individual event on Sunday before winning three gold medals in the Biathle event of Modern Pentathlon. Her team mate in the gold medal winning team, Parth Mirage, ended his campaign with six medals, including four gold and one silver which he won in Modern Pentathlon.
At the time of writing, Maharashtra had won 203 medals, including 70 gold, 64 silver and 69 bronze. Defending champions Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) are second with 55 gold while chasers Haryana have closed the gap on SSCB with 50 gold medals.
Hosts Goa are currently in 12th position with a total of 50 medals, including 12 gold, 12 silver and 26 bronze.
Elsewhere, Mehuli Ghosh of West Bengal shot an impressive 253.7 to win gold in the Women’s 10 M Air Rifle event at the Manderem Shooting Range. Haryana’s Nancy Mandhotra (251.0) won silver while Swati Chowdhury of West Bengal won the bronze.
Mehuli and Nancy had qualified 1-2 for the finals and Narmada Nitin Raju qualified third. She, however, finished seventh in the finals.
Punjab’s Rajeshwari Kumari shot a perfect 50 in two rounds to lead the women’s trap event while Gujarat’s Bakhtyaruddin Malek is leading the men’s event with a score of 49 after the completion of two rounds at the Pernem Shooting Range.
At the Chapora River, Madhya Pradesh ascertained their dominance in Slalom winning all the four gold medals on offer, bringing an end to the canoeing and kayaking events to take their gold medal tally to 27.
Kerala swept all the gold medals in the day in Kalarippayattu competition at the Campal Sports Village. Kerala showed their dominance in the oldest traditional martial art form winning all 11 gold medals.
Haryana beat neighbours Punjab in a tense shootout to qualify women’s hockey final. They will face Madhya Pradesh summit clash on Wednesday, who got the better of Jharkhand in another tense shootout.
In the men’s semi-finals Karnataka edged out Maharashtra 5-4 in a nine-goal thriller to book their places in the finals against Haryana who got the better of Uttar Pradesh by a solitary goal.
At the Peddem Multipurpose Indoor Stadium, SSCB pugilists booked their places in the finals of six out of the seven finals in the men’s boxing competition. World Champion, Swaeety Boro representing Haryana entered the final of the 70-75 Kg category as six boxers from Goa entered the final ensuring six more medals for the host.
