Guwahati, Jan 16 (UNI) Defending champions Maharashtra continued to rule the Khelo India Youth Games, adding five more gold to their tally today, led by their weightlifters.
Second-placed Haryana kept snapping at their heels, picking up five gold of their own, including two at the shooting range.
Maharashtra has a clear lead in terms of total medals (125) but their 33 gold may not be unbreachable, especially as the Games enter the last leg in which Haryana usually come into their own.
Haryana has 28 gold at the moment and will hope to reclaim the mantle of champions that they had lost last year.
Delhi could not muster any gold on the day, allowing Uttar Pradesh to claim sole possession of the third place with 18 gold. They are now fourth on the table, with 17 gold, while Kerala took the next place with 13 gold.
The Karnataka cycling quartet of Danamma Chichakha, Sahana Kudiganur, Keerthi Ramaswamy and Meghna Gugad won the Girls Under-21 team pursuit gold, fetching the only yellow medal for a southern state.
Haryana’s 13-year-old Shiva Narwal, who had claimed the Sub-Juniors gold and the third place in the Juniors at the National Championships in Bhopal last month, was their top star as he won the Boys Under-17 10m air pistol gold.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ cyclists Celestina and David Beckham completed their respective individual double crowns. They took home eight medals, including five gold.
Cycling is the only sport from which the Island athletes won medals, but Andaman & Nicobar are placed higher than states like Uttarakhand, Odisha and Jharkhand.
The cycling competition, held for the first time in three editions of Khelo India Games, saw Maharashtra blaze a trail of glory with 20 medals, nine of them gold. Manipur and Karnataka were the other teams with double-digit medals.
Maharashtra picked up three of the four gold medals on offer at the Bhogeswari Phukanani Indoor Stadium in Dispur.
The wrestling competition got underway with Greco-Roman bouts. Haryana and Maharashtra shared the first two gold medals, winning the 55kg and 60kg classes respectively.
UNI SG RN