Led by strong performances from the wushu players and swimmers, India breached the 100-mark by winning a whopping 50 medals on the fourth day to consolidate its top position in the South Asian Games (SAG) here on Thursday.
India secured its best medal haul on a single day so far in the Games to lead the table with 58 gold, 41 silver and 19 bronze for a total of 118. Nepal is far behind in the second spot with 36 gold, 26 silver and 34 bronze, followed by Sri Lanka (16 gold, 31 silver, 52 bronze) at third.
26 golds
India added 26 gold, 18 silver and six bronze medals on Thursday.
The bulk of India’s medals came from swimming, wushu, weightlifting and athletics.
The gold rush was triggered by wushu with seven yellow metals coming from the sport. Suraj Singh fetched the first gold in the men’s gunshu all-round event before Y. Sanathoi Devi (women’s sansou 52kg), Punam (women’s 75kg), Deepika (women’s 70kg), Sushila (women’s 65kg), Roshibina Devi (women’s 60kg) and Sunil Singh (men’s 52kg) also clinched top spots in their respective events. O. Bidyapati Chanu bagged a bronze in women’s sansou 56kg.
Swimming accounted for 11 medals with four gold, six silver and one bronze.
Likith Selvaraj clocked 2 min 14.67 secs to win the men’s 200m breaststroke (short course) gold while compatriot Danush Suresh won the silver in 2:19.27. Apeksha Delyla Fernandes claimed the men’s 200m breaststroke (short course) title in a time of 2:38.05.
Divya Satija clinched a gold in women’s 100m butterfly (short course), clocking 1:02.78, before the women’s 400m freestyle relay team finished on top in a time of 3:55.17.
Winning moment: Divya Satija finished on top in the women’s 100m butterfly.
India also bagged four gold medals on the first day of weightlifting competitions. Jhilli Dalabehera lifted a total of 151 kg (66kg in snatch and 85kg in clean & jerk) to win the yellow metal in women’s under-45kg category.
In the women’s u-49kg, Sneha Soren bagged the honours, lifting 68kg in snatch and 89kg in clean and jerk category for a total of 157kg. In the women’s 55kg, Sorokhaibam Bindyarani Devi emerged victorious with an effort of 181kg. Siddhant Gogoi won the gold in the men’s 61kg for his effort of 264kg.
Six from taekwondo
Taekwondo gave India six medals — three gold, two silver and one bronze.
Purva Dattary Dixit (women’s 49kg), Ruchika Bhave (women’s 67kg) and Margaret Maria (women’s 73kg) bagged the golds while Niraj Choudhary (men’s 58kg) and Akshay Hooda (men’s 87kg) clinched a silver each. Lakshya added a bronze in the men’s 80kg category.
Track and field athletes pocketed six medals, including one gold. Triple jumper Karthik Unnikrishnan cleared 16.47m for the top spot while compatriot Mohammed Salahuddin jumped 16.16m to win the silver for.
Surender Jayakumar (men’s 110m hurdles), Aparna Roy (women’s 100m hurdles) and Priya Habbathanahally (women’s 400m) also won a silver each. K.S. Jeevan (men’s 400m) bagged a bronze.
All-Indian summit clash
In badminton, Ashmita Chaliha and Gayatri Gopichand registered victories in their respective semifinals to set up an all-Indian summit clash.
While top-seed Ashmita thrashed Sri Lanka’s Achini Ratnasiri 21-5, 21-7, Gayatri registered an easy 21-17, 21-14 win over Dilmi Dias of Sri Lanka.
Aryaman Tondon and Siril Verma set up a title clash after winning their respective semifinals.
Top seed Siril beat Sri Lanka’s Dinuka Karunaratne 21-9, 21-12 while Aryaman posted a 21-18, 14-21, 21-18 win over second seed Nepal’s Ratnajith Tamang.
In the men’s doubles semifinals, Krishna Garaga and Dhruv Kapila notched up a 21-15, 21-7 win over Pakistan’s Mohommed Atique and Raja Mohommed Hasnin.
Paddlers do well
Four Indians cruised into the table tennis semifinals and assure themselves of medals.
In the men’s quarterfinals, top seed Harmeet Desai defeated Fahad Khwaja of Pakistan 11-8, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 while second seed A. Amalraj also downed Imesha Udeya of Sri Lanka 5-11, 11-9, 11-6, 12-10, 11-9.
Harmeet and Amalraj will clash with Nepal’s B. Purushottam and Santoo Shrestha respectively.
In women’s singles, Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee marched into the last-four.
Ayhika beat Fatima Dheema of Maldives 11-6, 11-3, 11-6, 11-3 while Sutirtha got past Yasin Sanam of Pakistan 11-2, 11-2, 11-1, 11-4.
