National Games 2023: Palak Gulia, Rutuja Bhosale and Angad Vir Bajwa add second gold to their tally

Palak Gulia of Haryana, Rutuja Bhosle of Maharashtra and Angad Vir Bajwa of Punjab excelled in the National Games on Sunday.

Panaji:Asian Games gold medallist shooter Palak Gulia of Haryana, tennis star Rutuja Bhosale of Maharashtra and skeet shooter Angad Vir Bajwa of Punjab bagged their second gold medal in the ongoing National Games here on Sunday.

Gulia added the women's 10m air pistol gold to her 10m air pistol mixed team gold at the Manderem Shooting range while Bajwa paired with Parinaaz Dhillon to win mixed team skeet gold as third-placed Haryana's gold tally reached 48. Maharashtra continued to remain on top of the medal tally with a total of 193 medals including 67 gold, 61 silver and 65 bronze while Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) are second with 52 gold medals.

However, with Haryana expected to win at least 7-8 gold medals from boxing and a few more in shooting, they are sure to push for the top spot. Later in the day, Odisha got the better of Manipur in penalty shootout to win the women's football gold at Tilak Maidan, Vasco. Both teams were deadlocked on 1-1 at the end of regulation time and extra time which forced the match into a tie-breaker. Odisha prevailed on penalties 4-2 to secure the yellow metal.

Earlier in the day, Haryana women beat West Bengal by a solitary goal to clinch the bronze in women's football at the Tilak Maidan in Vasco. In the morning session, Gulia led Haryana's sweep of 10m air pistol medals with Rhythm Sangwan and Drishti Sangwan clinching the silver and bronze respectively. In the mixed skeet event, Zahra Deesawala and Munek Batula of Telangana clinched the silver while Mairaj Khan and Areeba Khan of Uttar Pradesh won the bronze.

Another Asian Games gold medallist, Abhay Singh, representing Tamil Nadu, showcased his class by defeating his state-mate and second seed Velavan Senthilkumar 11-7 12-10 11-6 to clinch the men's singles squash gold. Goa's Akanksha Salunkhe added one more gold to the state's tally after the second seed beat Tamil Nadu's Pooja Arthi 11-5 11-4 11-3 in the final at the Chicalim multipurpose stadium. Meanwhile, Bhosale added a mixed doubles title to her women's doubles crown on Sunday, partnering Arjun Kadhe. The Maharashtra duo defeated Tamil Nadu's N Jeevan and C Sai Samitha 6-3 6-1 to clinch the gold medal.

Sidharth Vishwakarma beat Sidharth Rawat 6-4 1-6 7-6 in an all Uttar Pradesh final to win the gold in the men's singles final while top seed Vaidehi Chaudhari secured the gold in the women's category beating Telangana's Rashmika Srivali 7-5 7-6. At the Chapora River, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha shared the gold medals on offer in canoeing and kayaking.

Manaswani won the individual kayak title while Kaveri Dimar and Shivani Verma paired together to win the gold in canoe pair for Madhya Pradesh. Odisha's pair of Fulmani Xaxa and Oinam Bidya Devi won the other gold in Kayak pair. In triathlon competition at Miramar beach, last edition's champion Pragnya Mohan of Gujarat broke the pedal of her cycle and was later disqualified despite finishing second because she took external help to fix it.

This meant that Maharashtra completed a 1-2 with Mansi Mohite claiming the gold with a time of 1:14.06s and Sanjana Joshi taking the silver with a time of 1:17.50s. Manipur's Sorojini Thoudam finished third with a time of 1:18.33s. David Beckham of Andaman & Nicobar Islands added one more medal to the union territory's tally as he won the men's keirin cycling event at the Indira Gandhi Indoor stadium in New Delhi.

He edged out his national team mate Rojit Singh while Mayur Pawar won the bronze. Mayuri Lute of Maharshtra won the gold in the women's keirin ahead of fellow internationals Sushikala Agashe of Maharshtra and Triyasha Paul of Delhi.

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