Press Trust of India
Guwahati, Feb 10: India’s remarkable domination went uncontested for the fifth successive day as shooters, wushu players and track and field athletes annihilated competition to sweep most of the gold up for grabs on the fifth day of the 12th South Asian Games here Wednesday.
With a whopping 186 medals, including 114 gold, 59 silver and 13 bronze medals, in the kitty, India sit pretty at the top of the table. Following the hosts in second place are Sri Lanka with an overall count of 126 (21 gold, 44 silver and 61 bronze medals).
Earlier, the Indians dominated the pool once again to pick five gold medals on the final day of the swimming competition to stamp their authority in the event.
Seasoned swimmer Veerdhawal Khade clinched his first gold of the Games by winning the men’s 50m butterfly with a Games record of 24.54 seconds. Other gold winners for India were Shraddha Sudhir (200m medley for women), Jyotsna Pansare (50m butterfly for women) and both the men’s and women’s 4×100 medley relay teams. The Indian men’s 4x100m medley team also set a new Games record of 3:49.78 seconds while winning
the gold.
Silver winners for India in swimming were Sanu Debnath (200m medley for men), Anshul Kothari (50m butterfly for men) and Avantika Chavan (50m butterfly for women), while Shivani Kataria got a bronze in 100m freestyle for women.
In Shillong, India clinched an overwhelming eight gold, one silver and two bronze medals on the final day of the wushu competition. India finished their wushu campaign with an overall tally of 11 gold, two silver and three bronze medals at the Rising Sports Complex.
The shooting range in Guwahati was also dominated by Indians with Rio Olympics bound Apurvi Chandela leading the charge. Indian shooters grabbed six medals, including three gold, on the opening day of competitions.
Chandela easily shot down the gold in her pet event of women’s 10m air rifle with a score of 209.00 points, while compatriots Elizabeth Susan Koshy and Pooja Ghatkar won the silver and bronze at the Kahilipara Shooting Range here.
In men’s 50m pistol event, however, India failed to win the gold with Om Prakash – who shot 187.30 points – bagging a silver and Olympic-bound Prakash Nanjappa finishing outside podium at fourth. The gold was won by Bangladesh’s Sakil Ahmed, who shot 187.6 points.
India also pocketed a gold each in men’s 50m pistol team event and women’s 10m air rifle team event.
