Rajkot:Seasoned Sajan Prakash from Kerala and the young Hashika Ramachandra of Karnataka claimed two more gold medals each in swimming competition at the National Games here on Friday. Sajan and Hashika thus took their gold medal haul to five and six respectively to pull away from the rest of the aspirants and almost seal the coveted honour of the Games' Best Athletes.
Fourteen-year-old Hashika won gold in the women's 400m freestyle and 200m individual medley to finish her campaign with a grand six gold and a bronze. Her stunning show pushed the splendid efforts of Olympian Maana Patel, who won her third backstroke gold for Gujarat, each with National Games records to boot, into the background.
Sajan Prakash too asserted his supremacy despite the game challenges by Srihari Nataraj and Advait Page at the Sardar Patel Aquatics Complex. Sajan snatched the 400m freestyle from Advait Page (Madhya Pradesh) and the 200m individual medley from Karnataka's S Siva.
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At the top of the medal tally, Services remained unchallenged with 41 gold, 31 silver and 27 bronze for a total of 99 medals. Haryana are second with 75 medals, including 29 gold while Maharashtra are the closest to become the first to total 100 at the 2022 Games, with 26 gold among their collection of 99 so far.
Pooja Patel's gold medal in women's Traditional Yogasana saw the hosts pick up their 10th gold. The home state has won 31 medals in all, across 11 disciplines for their best performance ever. Back in 2015, Gujarat had won a total of 20 medals, including 10 gold.
In shooting, Rajasthan's Vivaan Kapoor, third in qualification, shot superbly in the final of the men's Trap event to win gold at the Crowne Shooting Academy on the outskirts of Gandhinagar. He could sense Punjab's Zoravar Singh Sandhu shoot in the final with greater precision than in qualifying but he kept his nerve to take the crown.
In the women's trap final, Neeru (Madhya Pradesh) shot better than the seven others to edge out Sabeera Haris (Uttar Pradesh) to the gold by a two-point difference. The vastly experienced Seema Tomar's bronze medal added to the Services' tally. Delhi's Kirti Gupta, who had topped the qualifications, finished fourth.
In boxing, World Championships medallists Simranjit Kaur Baath (Punjab) and Shiva Thapa (Assam) outclassed their respective opponents to advance to the quarterfinals. Tokyo Olympian Simranjit looked in ominous form in the women's 60kg class as she unsettled 2019 National Championship bronze medallist Rinki Sharma (Uttar Pradesh).
Shiva Thapa also warmed up in style by recording a 5-0 unanimous verdict win over Aniket J Pandey. World Youth champion Sachin Siwach (Haryana) also progressed to the last eight in the 57kg after dishing out a clinical show. Similarly, Asian Championship bronze medallist Saweety Boora (Haryana) got off to a winning start in the Women's 75kg division.
In diving, Medhali Redkar, a 24-year-old gymnast-turned-diver, dominated the 1M Springboard Diving competition to make her National Games debut a memorable one. With her more experienced Maharashtra team-mate Hrutika Shriram unable to find the quality she sought and settling for bronze, Medhali stormed to the top of the podium.
In hockey, Madhya Pradesh stunned Odisha 4-2 to set up a semifinal battle with star-studded Haryana, who scored half a dozen goals against hapless Karnataka. Jharkhand, who beat Uttar Pradesh 6-1 will take on Punjab in the other semi-finals.
PTI
