National Games 2023: Maharashtra tops medal tally in National Games

Maharashtra topped the medal tally of the national games on Thursday and did so for the first time since 1994 in the history of the event.

Panaji: Maharashtra has clinched three gold medals in Yogasana and one more in shooting on the final day to top the National Games medal tally for the first time since 1994 here on Thursday.

Maharashtra finished with a total of 228 medals (80 gold, 69 silver and 79 bronze) to emerge overall champions and lift the Raja Bhalindra Singh Rolling Trophy. Services finished second with 66 gold, 27 silver and 33 bronze medals, as their reign at the top since the 2007 Games in Guwahati ended. Haryana stood third with 62 gold, 54 silver and 73 bronze. Madhya Pradesh and Kerala finished fourth and fifth respectively with hosts Goa registering their best ever finish -- ninth -- with 92 medals, including 27 gold.

Karnataka swimmer Srihari Nataraj (8 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze) was adjudged the Best Male Athlete while gymnasts Sanyukta Prasen Kale and Pranati Nayak of Odisha (4 gold, 1 silver each) were adjudged the Best Female athletes of the National Games, which witnessed around 11000 sportspersons vying for top honours in 42 disciplines, three of which were demo sports. With just 12 gold medals on offer on the final day of competitions, Maharashtra were already assured of the top spot.

Maharashtra dominated Yogasana competition by clinching three of the five gold medals on offer. Abhidnya Patil rounded off their gold medal tally with a winning finish in women's 25m Pistol final. At the Yash Shooting Academy range, Patil was so dominant in the 25m Pistol final that she could have won the gold even without firing a single shot on target in the final series. She managed just one to finish with 35 points, five ahead of second placed Simranpreet Kaur of Punjab. Payal of Haryana won the bronze with a score of 28 points.

Earlier, Olympian Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar of Madhya Pradesh showed tremendous composure under pressure to add the men's 10m Air Rifle gold to his 50m Rifle 3-position triumph. Tomar came up with shots of 10.6 and 10.4 under pressure in the final series to pip Services' Sandeep Singh by just 0.3 points. The MP shooter was trailing by 0.3 points going into the final two shots but underlined his stature as one of the top rifle shooters in the country by finishing with a total score of 250.7 in the final.

Sandeep scored 250.4 for his silver winning effort while Uttar Pradesh's Pratham Bhadana took bronze with a score of 250.4. In the women's trap final, Punjab's Rajeshwari Kumari took the gold medal with a score of 44 points with Uttar Pradesh's Sabina Haris taking the silver with a score of 43 points. Aashima Ahlawat of Haryana finished with bronze.

In the men's trap final, Haryana's Lakshay Sheoran shot 47 ahead of Tamil Nadu's Prithviraj Tondaiman's 45 to clinch the gold. M. Bakhtyaruddin Malek of Gujarat won the bronze. At the Delhi Golf Course, Punjab's Amandeep Drall did the double, winning gold in women's individual and team events. The golf events that happened over four days saw four rounds of intense action in which Amandeep prevailed over Zara Anand of Uttar Pradesh and Vani Kapoor of Haryana who won the silver and bronze respectively.

She then paired with Mannat Brar to win the team gold and complete the double. In the men's category, Karnataka's Yashas Chandra won the gold with a score of 273 while Om Prakash Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh took the silver with a score of 277 and Kartik Sharma of Haryana clinched the bronze with a score of 280.

Shaurya Bhattacharya paired with Sachin Baisoya to win the gold in the team event ahead of Anant Singh Ahlawat and Aadil Bedi of Delhi who won the silver and Giirraj Singh Khadka and Sawai H.S Bhati of Rajasthan who took the bronze. Earlier in the morning, Punjab's Harveer Singh took the gold in men's cycling Road Race while Monika Jat led Rajasthan's 1-2 in women's individual Time Trial at Verna with Kavita Siyag taking the silver medal.

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