36th National Games Round Up: J&K’s Abhishek Jamwal steals limelight while big guns roar at the top of medal charts
36th National Games Round Up: Services are unassailable at the top and all set to win the Raja Bhalindra Singh Trophy as the champion team in the National Games for the fourth time in succession; Maharashtra and Haryana are engaged in a keen battle for the second spot; Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are in a contest of their own as the 36th National Games is heading for a finish tomorrow.
And yet, the spotlight was well and truly on the Wushu arena in the Mahatma Mandir complex where Abhishek Jamwal, who won Jammu and Kashmir’s first gold medal, as well as on Ladakh’s Owais Sarwar Ahengar who became the first two medallists for the Union Territory who are competing in the National Games for the first time.
Services added three gold to their collection and remain on top of the charts with 56 gold, 34 silver and 30 bronze medals for a total of 120.
Maharashtra hold a four-gold lead over Haryana, thanks to the addition of the Softball men’s title and the domination of the Yogasana Artistic Group medals today. Haryana, who won gold through Ravi Panchal in Wushu here and the women’s Hockey team in Rajkot, will hope that success in the Boxing ring tomorrow would help them regain the second place behind Services.
Karnataka and Haryana lived up to their ranking to claim the men and women’s Hockey gold medals respectively in the Maj. Dhyan Chand Hockey Stadium in Rajkot.
Karnataka beat Uttar Pradesh via the sudden death tiebreaker after the teams were locked 2-2 in regulation time and scored four goals apiece in the penalty shootout. Haryana women regained the trophy, edging out their arch-rivals Punjab by a solitary goal, scored by the redoubtable Rani Rampal.
Karnataka’s victory in the men’s Hockey final via the sudden-death was their 27th gold medal and helped them retain the edge over Tamil Nadu in the race for the fourth spot. Though Tamil Nadu gained a gold through their Mixed Team in Triathlon and Kerala picked up two Canoeing and Kayaking gold medals today, Karnataka stayed ahead.
Hosts Gujarat have registered their best show in National Games by bagging 47 medals including 13 gold, 15 silver and 19 bronze. There was a dramatic Triathlon Mixed Relay silver for the hosts. Teenager Krishiv Hitesh Patel braved a broken toe to finish the cycling and running legs.
Tamil Nadu’s Akash Perumalsamy, S Keerthi, S Vaman and S Aarthi did not look the gift horse in its mouth in winning a surprise Triathlon gold. Krishiv Patel’s crash during his bicycle leg and his broken toe slowed him down considerably and despite the brave efforts by Monika Nagpure and Pragnya Mohan, Tamil Nadu won by a 41-second margin.
Kerala were hoping to win the men’s Football gold but West Bengal had other ideas. They left none in doubt about their superiority with a 5-0 hammering of Kerala in the title clash. Naro Hari Shrestha scored a hat-trick for West Bengal against the error prone team from the southern State. Surajit Hansda and Amit Chakraborty accounted for the other goals.
Maharashtra first defeated Andhra Pradesh 3-0 in the men’s Softball Final to take on Chhattisgarh in the gold medal match, called the Grand Final. They then beat Chhattisgarh 1-0 to take gold. Earlier, Punjab expectedly emerged the women’s champions with a 6-2 conquest of Kerala 6-2 in the Grand Final. Kerala had beaten Chhattisgarh 2-1 to try and unseat Punjab.
Tokyo2020 bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain as well as Commonwealth Games medalists Mohammed Hussamuddin and Jaismine Lamboria registered easy victories to storm into the Boxing finals. Eight Haryana pugilists have made it to finals and will be expected to help the State vault past Maharashtra on the overall medal table.
Earlier in the day, the 28-year-old Abhishek Jamwal’s determination to go back from here with only the gold medal came through. Having lost in the quarterfinal stage in the last two National Championships after changing to 56kg category with an eye on next year’s Asian Games, he is now hoping that the success will lead him to better things in life, including a job.
Devi (Manipur) 2:00:24.
Wushu
Changquan
Men: 1. Anjul Namdeo (Services) 9.55 points; 2. Salam Marshal Singh (Manipur) 9.50; 3. Sumit Pulami (Delhi) 9.10.
Women: 1. Nyeman Wangshu (Arunachal Pradesh) 9.20 points; 2. Poorvi Soni (Madhya Pradesh) 8.50; 3. Sakshi Jatav (Madhya Pradesh) 8.36.
Sanda
56kg class: Abhishek Jamwal (Jammu and Kashmir) beat Mayank Mahajan (Punjab); Bronze medals: Omkar Anil Pawar (Maharashtra) and Apil Nagar (Uttar Pradesh).
60kg class: Ravi Panchal (Haryana) beat Vicky Rai (Services); Bronze medals: Sanket Shahaji Patil (Maharashtra) and Thangjam Naocha Metei (Manipur).
65kg class: Vikrant Baliyan (Services) beat Sachin (Haryana). Bronze medals: Ishant Singh (Jammu and Kashmir) and Owais Sarwar Ahengar (Ladakh).
70 kg class: Suraj Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) beat Abhijeet Slathia (Jammu and Kashmir). Bronze medals: Shubham Gora (Rajasthan) and Ramu Daimary (Services).
75kg class: Mukesh Choudhary (Rajasthan) beat Haobijam Gagarin Singh (Manipur). Bronze medals: Pratham Singh (Ladakh) and Pankaj Raina (Jammu and Kashmir).
Women
52kg class: Onilu Tega (Arunachal Pradesh) beat Namrata Batra (Madhya Pradesh). Bronze medals: Bharti Kumari (Delhi) and Jahanvi Mehra (Rajasthan).
60kg class: Naorem Roshibina Devi (Manipur) beat Ritu (Haryana). Bronze medals: Nikita Bansal (Rajasthan) and Prerna (Delhi).
Yogasana
Men
Artistic Group: 1. Maharashtra (Harshal, Manan, Nitin, Om and Vaibhav) 128.64 points; 2. Haryana (Abhishek, Abhishek, Kamal, Karan and Rohit) 127.19; 3. Gujarat (Ankit, Deep Kaushikbhai Nisar, Smit Rameshbhai, Sunil) 124.26.
Women
Artistic Group: 1. Maharashtra (Prapti, Chhakuli, Kalyani, Pradnya and Purva_ 128.80; 2. Gujarat (Darshi, Dhamishtha, Ipsa, Komal and Pooja Patel) 125.80; 3. Tamil Nadu (Gayathri, Geethiga, Nivethi, Rohini and Vaishnavi) 125.36.
Other results
Boxing (semifinals)
Men
51kg class: Ankit (Haryana) beat Sparsh Kumar (Punjab) on points (5-0); Avinash Chandel (Himachal Pradesh) beat Karan Rupini (Tripura) on points (5-0).
57kg class: Mohammed Hussamuddin (Services) beat Lallawmawma (Mizoram) on points (5-0); Sachin (Haryana) Aasifali Asgarali Saiyed (Gujarat) on points (5-0).
60kg class: Vijay Kumar (Punjab) beat Myson Moirangthem (Manipur) on points (4-1); Muhammed Etash Khan (Services) beat Pawan Gurung (Uttarakhand) on points (5-0).
67kg class: Sagar (Haryana) beat Chander Mohan (Himachal Pradesh) on points (3-2); Akash (Services) beat Shiva Thapa (Assam) on points (3-2).
75kg class: Nikhil Dubey (Maharashtra) beat Sumit (Services) on points (4-1); Malsawmitluanga (Mizoram) beat Pushpender Rathee (Goa) on points (5-0).
80kg class: Sachin Kumar (Services) beat Sumit Poonia (Rajasthan) on points (5-0); Vinit (Haryana) beat Harpreet (Chandigarh) on points (5-0).
92kg class: Naveen Kumar (Rajasthan) beat Kanwarpreet Singh (Punjab) on points (4-1); Sanjeet (Services) beat Neeraj Kumar (Rajasthan).
+92kg class: Narender (Services) beat Reynold Joseph (Maharashtra) on points (5-0); Sawan Gill (Chandigarh) beat Mohit (Haryana).
Women
52kg class: Minakshi (Haryana) beat Rashi Sharma (Uttar Pradesh) by points (5-0); Shobha Kohli (Uttarakhand) beat Anjali Sharma (Madhya Pradesh) on points (4-1).
57kg class: Poonam (Haryana) beat Jamuna Boro (Assam) on points (4-1); Mandeep Kaur (Punjab) beat Savita (Chandigarh) on points (5-0).
60kg class: Jaismine (Haryana) beat Konthoujam Pravish Chanu (Manipur) on points (5-0); Simranjit Kaur (Punjab) beat Pwilao Basumatary (Assam) on points (5-0).
66kg class: Ankushita Boro (Assam) beat Lalita (Rajasthan) on points (5-0); Alena Thounaojam (Manipur) beat Komalpreet Kaur (Punjab) on points (3-2).
75kg class: Lovlina Borgohain (Assam) beat Ruchita Rajput (Gujarat) on points (5-0); Saweety Boora (Haryana) beat Shretima Thakur (Himachal Pradesh) on points (5-0).
Volleyball (semifinals)
Men: Tamil Nadu beat Haryana 19-25, 23-25, 25-21, 25-22, 15-13.
Women: West Bengal beat Rajasthan 25-14, 25-21, 25-18; Kerala beat Himachal Pradesh 25-20, 25-14, 25-19.
