Services continued their dominance at the National Games 2022 by swelling their medal count to 113, including 51 gold, with top podium finishes in wushu, triathlon and canoeing and kayaking on Sunday.
Services have also won 33 silver and 29 bronze medals. Haryana (31 gold) and Maharashtra (29) continued their fight for the second place on the medals tally. Puducherry became the 28th team to win at least one gold in the Games when V Sasikala and A Kanimozhi beat Gujarat’s Manisha Zala and Nippa Barad in the women’s beach volleyball final in Surat.
As many as 32 teams have now won at least a medal in the Games so far. Madhya Pradesh jumped to the 10th spot, riding on their sweep of slalom events. Kayaks Hitesh Kewat and Shikha Chouhan, and Canoeists Vishwajit Singh Kushwaha and Jahanvi Srivastava did the star turn for them.
Gujarat’s Pragnya Mohan claimed the women’s individual triathlon gold while Adarsh Muralidharan Sinimol of Services bagged the men’s yellow metal. Karandeep Kochhar (Chandigarh) signed his fourth sub-par card to walk away with the men’s individual golf gold with a superb score of 21-under for the four rounds at Kensville Golf and Country Club.
His performance was insurance enough for Chandigarh to claim the men’s team gold as well, though his team-mate Anant Singh finished with a 16-over. Similarly, Karnataka’s Avani Prasanth starred in the women’s competition, winning the individual gold with an even-par 288 while also playing a major role in the team victory ahead of Haryana.
Amanpreet Kaur (Punjab) had a forgettable round, with five bogeys on the first nine holes to finish the day with an 8-over to lose her grip over the gold medal and take silver.
In boxing competitions at the Mahatma Mandir complex, Olympic bronze winner Lovlina Borgohain and Commonwealth Games medal winning duo of Mohammed Hussamuddin and Jaismine Lamboria assured themselves of a medal each after recording quarterfinal victories.
National Championship silver medallist Ankit Sharma (Haryana), Punjab’s Sparsh Kumar (Punjab), Avinash Chandel (Himachal Pradesh) and Karan Rupini (Tripura) also assured themselves of medals in the men’s 51kg class.
Defending champions Punjab set a repeat clash with Haryana in the women’s hockey final, the two powerhouses scoring contrasting victories at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in Rajkot. Punjab got the better of a fighting Madhya Pradesh 2-1 while Haryana defeated Jharkhand 5-2 in the semifinals.
In football, Kerala and West Bengal will clash in the final of the men’s competition at the EKA Arena TransStadia in Ahmedabad. Kerala comfortably defeated Karnataka 2-0 while West Bengal beat Services by a solitary goal in the semifinal.