2021 Khelo India Youth Games: Maharashtra, Haryana win 5 gold each

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, June 12

The overall winner of this closely contested Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) will be decided on the final day. On the penultimate day today, both key contenders, Maharashtra and Haryana, collected five gold medals each to maintain the status quo.

Maharashtra increased their tally to 42 gold, while Haryana now has 41 gold. The mallakhamb pole gold won by Maharashtra that is yet to reflect in the official medals tally.

Haryana, meanwhile, will enter the arena on the final day with utmost confidence as 20 gold medals are up for grabs in boxing. They have as many as 12 boxers in the finals, while Maharashtra has only four.

A neck-and-neck tie

The day started with archers Riddhi (girls recurve) from Haryana and Maharashtra’s Aditi Swami (girls compound) opening the gold medal account for their respective states. Swimmer Apeksha Fernandes grabbed two gold medals in 200m butterfly and 50m breaststroke and table tennis star Diya Chitale defeated Delhi’s Lakshita Narang 4-3 in the girls’ singles final and Rishabh Ghubde added a gold for Maharashtra in boys’ pole mallakhamb.

Kerala stay in top five

Kerala continued to dominate the Kalaripayattu events bagging three of the four gold medals on offer on the final day of competition to return with a rich haul of 14 gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze to stay in the top five. Karnataka remained on number 3, thanks to their swimmers. Tamil Nadu girl added a gold medal to their tally with a 2-0 win over Jharkhand in football with two girls with the same name, Shanmuga Priya and Shanmugapriya, scoring a goal each.

Chandigarh boxers shine

In the bantam weight (51-54 KG) event, Chandigarh’s Ankit marched ahead in the final by defeating Anand Yadav of Madhya Pradesh 4-1. In the welter weight (63.5 – 67 KG) event, city’s Achal Veer Karwasra defeated Mohit Kanjar of Madhya Pradesh 5-0 and in the light middle weight (67-71 KG) semifinal, Ashish Hooda ousted Maharashtra’s Manik Singh 5-0. In the girls’ flyweight (48-51 KG) category, Mohammed Billal defeated Chandigarh’s Kavi 4-1. Kavi settled with the bronze medal. In the feather (54-57 KG) weight category, Renu went down against Manipur H Griviya Devi and claimed another bronze for Chandigarh.

Andhra archer inspired by ‘Bahubali’

Like most kids in Andhra Pradesh, Madala Surya Hamsini, too, was baptised into badminton. But when she was nine, she happened to watch the blockbuster movie “Bahubali”. Enamoured by Prabhas and his skills in archery, she told her father that she was going to switch sports. “The bow and arrow looked so good,” she chirped, shortly after winning the individual bronze in the girls’ compound archery. It is this clarity in thought that sets Madala apart. At 12, the lass from Bhimavaram West Godawari is not only one of the youngest athletes at the Khelo India Youth Games but also the youngest to win a medal in archery.

RESULTS

Football Girls

Tamil Nadu bt Jharkhand 2-0

Table Tennis

Girls Singles- Diya Chitale bt Lakshita Narang 4-3; Radhapriya Goel bt Suhana Saini 4-1

Archery Girls

Recurve- 1st Ridhi, 2nd Tamnna (Haryana), 3rd Vitasa Thakur

Compound- 1st Aditi Gopichand Swami, 2nd Avneet,3rd Madala Surya Hamsini

Boys

Recurve- 1st Kapish Singh, 2nd Ajay Kumar Nagarwal, 3rd Juyel Sarkar

Compound: 1st Kunderu Venkatadri, 2nd Parth Korde, 3rd Priyansh

Kalaripayattu Girls

Urumi Veeshal (Weilding of Flexible Sword) Below 40 KG – 1st Ann Mary Xavier, 2nd M Swetha, 3rd Alvina Joseph

Urumi Veeshal (Weilding of Flexible Sword) Above 40 KG – 1st Nyshana KK, 2nd Adithya MP, 3rd Farisa Rahma (Kerala)

Swimming Boys

200M Butterfly- Aryan Panchal (02:03.36s), Bikram Changmai (02.04.63s), Utkarsh Patil (02:05.49s)

50M Freestyle: Veer Khatkar (00:23.94s), Sambhavv R (00:24.04s), Harsh Saroha (00:24.17s)

50M Breaststroke: 1st Vansh Pannu (00: 27.84s); Swadesh Mondal (00: 30.23s), Vidith Shankar (00:30.27s)

4X100M Freestyle – 1st Karnataka (3:35.28s), 2nd Maharashtra (3:39.41s), 3rd Haryana ( 3:40.12s)

Girls

200M Butterfly- 1st Apeksha Fernandes (02:18.39s); Astha Choudhary (02:20.02s); Hashika Ramachandra (2:22.87s)

50M Freestyle – Jhanvi Choudhary (00:26.92s); Jasnoor Kaur (00: 27.47s); Ridhima Veerendrakumar (00: 27.92s)

50M Breaststroke – Apeksha Fernandes (00: 33.78s); Vihitha Nayana (00: 34.67s); Venika Parikh (00:35.74s)

1500M Freestyle –Vritti Agarwal (18:01.45s); Shirin (18:04.49s); Ashwmita Chandra (18:29.23s)

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