Ahmedabad: Gujarat’s Pragnya Mohan made light of the surround sound of expectations to claim the 36th National Games Women’s Individual Triathlon gold with a powerful show at the IIT Gandhinagar here on Sunday.
She dominated the field with ease, notching up the third-fastest time in Swimming and the fastest times in both the Cycling and Running legs, to leave Maharashtra’s Mansi Mohite gasping well over 5 minutes behind her. Tamil Nadu’s S Aarthi took home the bronze.
Pragnya’s gold, after finishing tenth in the last edition of the Games, has swelled Gujarat’s gold tally to an impressive 12.
Adarsh Muralidharan Sinimol bagged the Men’s Triathlon gold to continue Services’ medal hunt. With titles coming in Wushu and Canoeing & Kayaking, they finished the day with a tally of 51 gold, 33 silver and 29 bronze for a total of 113 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 36th National Games when V Sasikala and A Kanimozhi beat the home side’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 each in the Games so far.
Services were helped as their athletes claimed the four gold medals on offer in the Canoe and Kayak sprints on the Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad. Madhya Pradesh jumped to the 10th spot in the rankings, 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.
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 near here. 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 9 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, National Championship silver medallist Ankit Sharma (Haryana), Punjab’s Sparsh Kumar (Punjab), Avinash Chandel (Himachal Pradesh) and Karan Rupini (Tripura) assured themselves of medals in the Men’s 51kg class.
Ankit , a Khelo India Youth Games 2020 gold medallist, was in a league of his own in the Men’s Flyweight, recording a commanding 4-1 points victory over Maharashtra’s Ajay Pendor to march into the semifinals. Karan Rupini unleashed his fury in the second round with a powerful punch to deliver a knockout verdict against Rajasthan’s Bhim Pratap Singh.
The supremely talented Haryana pugilist Minakshi, who is using the National Games to fine-tune her preparation for the Asian Championships in Amman later this month, registered a dominating victory to enter the women’s semifinals.
Defending champions Punjab set a repeat clash with Haryana in the Women’s Hockey final, the two powerhouses scoring contrasting victories at the Maj. 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.
The results (finals):
Beach Volleyball: Men: P Krishna Chaitanya and Mahesh (Telangana) beat T Naresh and M Krishnam Raju (Andhra Pradesh) 22-24, 23-21, 15-11; Bronze medal play-off: Rama Dhawasker and Aaron Periera (Goa) beat Nitin and Sarvesh Nayak (Goa) 21-19, 21-14.
Women: V Sasikala and A Kanimozhi (Puducherry) beat Manisha Zala and Nippa Barad (Gujarat) 21-15, 9-21, 15-10. Bronze medal play-off: Shibani Priyadarshini and Monalisa Patra (Odisha) beat P Srikruti and V Aishwarya (Telangana) 21-12, 21-15.
Canoeing & Kayaking: Men: C1 1000m Sprint: 1. Salam Sunil Singh (Services) 4:17.630; 2. Niraj Verma (Madhya Pradesh) 4:24.577; 3. Phairrembam Amit Kumar Singh (Telangana) 4:31.533.
C2 1000m Sprint: 1. Services (Ningthoujam Ribason Singh and Philem Gyaneshwor Singh) 4:03.907; 2. Madhya Pradesh (Devendra Sen and Niraj Verma) 4:05.337; 3. Telangana (Abhay and Pradee Kumar) 4:11.556.
K1 1000m Sprint: 1. Varinder Singh (Services) 4:16.452; 2. Tomthilnganba Ngashepam (Odisha) 4:20.358; 3. Nitin Verma (Madhya Pradesh) 4:24.625.
K2 1000m Sprint: 1. Services (L Naocha Singh and Ajit Singh) 3:42.343; 2. Madhya Pradesh (Vishal Dangi and Akshit Baroi) 3:43.240; 3. Odisha (Satyam Baliyan and Suraj Bijale) 3:47.90.
Canoe Slalom: Vishwajit Singh Kushwaha (Madhya Pradesh) 1:33.94 beat Rahul Kumar (Services) 1:40.02. Bronze Medal play-off: Idress Hussain (Jammu and Kashmir) 1:41.02 beat Vemula Chinna Babu ((Andhra Pradesh) 1:51.18.
Kayak Slalom: Hitesh Kewat (Madhya Pradesh) 1:19.02 beat 1:24.75; Bronze medal play-off: Mohit Kumar (Delhi) 1:31.51 beat Nagesh Naik (Karnataka) 1:42.99.
Women: Canoe Slalom: Jahanvi Shrivastava (Madhya Pradesh) 1:50.51 beat Kirti Kewat (Gujarat) 2:09.08. Bronze medal: A Dhanlakhsmi (Karnataka).
Kayak Slalom: Shikha Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh) 1:32.59 beat Naina Adhikari (Uttarakhand) 1:53.81. Bronze medal: Nidhi (Delhi).
Cycling: Men 119km Massed Start: 1. Harshveer Singh Sekhon (Punjab); 2. Arvind Panwar (Uttar Pradesh); 3. Sreenath Lakshmikanth (Tamil Nadu).
Women 30km Individual Time Trial: 1. Kavita Siyag (Rajasthan); 2. Meenakshi (Haryana); 3. Pranita Soman (Maharashtra).
Golf: Men Individual: 1. Karandeep Kochhar (Chandigarh) 267 (68, 66, 65, 68); 2. Abhinav Lohan (Haryana) 277 (68, 66, 72, 71); 3. Sunhit Bishnoi (Haryana) 281 (73, 69, 69, 70).
Team: 1. Chandigarh (Karandeep Kochhar and Anant Singh Ahlawat) 571; 2. Karnataka (Aryan Roopa Anand and Trishul Chinappa) 581; 3. Delhi (Sachin Baisoya and Shaurya Bhattacharya) 582.
Women: Individual: 1. Avani Prashant (Karnataka) 288 (71, 74, 71, 72); 2. Amandeep Kaur (Punjab) 292 (72, 69, 71, 80); 3. Vani Kapoor (Haryana) 295 (75, 74, 75, 71).
Team: 1. Karnataka (Avani Prashanth and Durga Nittur) 590; 2. Haryana (Lavanya Jadon and Vani Kapoor) 599; 3. Punjab (Amandeep Kaur and Mannat Brar) 601.
Judo: Men: 90kg class: AR Arjun (Kerala) beat Vikram (Haryana); Bronze medals: Samirkhan Pathan (Gujarat) and Pradhan Gujar (Services).
100kg class: Avtar Singh (Punjab) beat Shubam Kumar (Uttarakhand); Bronze medals: Vishal (Haryana) and Aman Kumar (Haryana).
Women: 70kg class: T Inunganbi (Manipur) beat Sonam (Punjab); Bronze medals: Ranjeeta (Punjab) and Ravneet Kaur (Punjab).
78kg class: PR Aswathy (Kerala) beat Taruna Sharma (Uttar Pradesh); Bronze medals: M Indubala Devi (Manipur) and Ankita (Haryana).
Mallakhambh: Men’s Team: 1. Madhya Pradesh 131.75 points; 2. Maharashtra 131.50; 3. Chhattisgarh 123.7.
Triathlon: Men: 1. Adarsh Muralidharan Sinimol (Services) 1:01:13 (Swim 9:59, Cycle 31:12, Run 18:02); 2. Vishwanath Yadav (Services) 1:04:34; 3. Kshetrimayum Kabidash Singh (Manipur) 1:05.19.
Women: 1. Pragnya Mohan (Gujarat) 1:07:32 (Swim 11:29, Cycle 33:34, Run 20:12); 2. Mansi Mohite (Maharashtra) 1:13:10; 3. S Aarthi (Tamil Nadu) 1:13:17.
Wushu: Men Nanquan and Nandao: 1. Sajan Lama (Services) 18.36 points; 2. Neeraj Kumar (Delhi) 17.84; 3. Sanjib Kumar Singh (Assam) 17.59.
Women Nanquan and Nandao: 1. Konjengbam Luxmi Devi (Manipur) 17.38 points; 2. Rongila Daimary (Assam) 17.05; Geeta Xalxo (Jharkhand) 16.73.
Yogasana: Men’s Artistic Pair (18+): 1. Rahul and Rishabh (Haryana) 118.74 ponts; 2. Manan and Om (Maharashtra) 118.45; 3. Vaibhav and Shubham (Maharashtra) 117.02.
Women’s Artistic Pair (18+): 1. Sanika and Pradnya (Maharashtra) 126.59; 2. Purpva and Prapti (Maharashtra) 125.93; 3. Bhateri and Devi (Haryana) 125.51.
Other results
Football: Men’s semifinal: Kerala beat Karnataka 2-0 (Half-time 1-0).
Saturday’s result: Women’s semifinal: Odisha beat Tamil Nadu 5-2 (2-1).
Hockey: Women’s Semifinals: Haryana beat Jharkhand 5-2 (Half-time: 3-0); Punjab beat Madhya Pradesh 2-1 (1-0).
Softball: Men: Group X: Maharashtra beat Delhi 8-0; Maharashtra beat Gujarat 4-1.
Group Y: Andhra Pradesh beat Chandigarh 7-0; Andhra Pradesh beat Haryana 1-0.
Women: Group X: Chhattisgarh beat Kerala 1-0; Kerala beat Gujarat 9-0.
Group Y: Maharashtra beat Telangana 6-0; Punjab beat Madhya Pradesh 3-2; Punjab beat Telangana 12-2.
PIB
