Swimmers claim 5 gold, take Karnataka to fourth position

 Karnataka’s Ridhma Kumar set a new mark in the 50m backstroke even as her teammates ruled over the swimming pool with five gold, helping the state leapfrog Manipur to the third spot in the Khelo India Youth Games here on Friday.

The Class X student clocked 29.88s to erase the old mark of 29.94.

Karnataka’s Aneesh Gowda went on to take his fourth gold medal of the meet, winning the 400m freestyle. Sambhavv R (gold, 100m freestyle; bronze, 100m butterfly) and Utkarsh Patil (gold; 50m backstroke) were their stars among boys. Their 4x100m Men’s Medley also clinched the gold.

On the distaff side, Hashika Ramachandra (gold, 400m IM), A Jeddiah (bronze, 400m IM), Nina Venkatesh (silver, 50m backstroke; bronze, 100m freestyle) and Shalini Dixit (bronze, 50m backstroke).

Elsewhere, a vibrant set of Haryana girls decimated Odhisha in the hockey final while two of their boys ¬ judoka Anil (55 kg) and swimmer Harsh Saroha (100m butterfly) ¬ clinched gold to keep the hosts ahead.

Haryana’s 4-1 gold efforts were etched out by captain Sonam (two goals) and Kanika Siwach and Gurmail Kaur, one each, much to the delight of a packed stadium. Earlier, Jharkhand made up for their heart-breaking loss, beating UP 4-1 to take home the bronze medal.

Later in the evening, Saroha added another gold to his earlier 50m butterfly triumph, taking the 100m butterfly final to take the hosts’ overall tally to 36 gold, 28 silver and 36 bronze.

Maharashtra, though, continued to breathe down their necks, adding gold in mallakhamb and judo to take their tally to 34. While the mallakhamb boys pipped Madhya Pradesh in the final, judoka Mithila Bhosale defeated Gujarat’s Archana Naghera in the Girls 40kg category.

Earlier, Punjab rode on Bharath Thakur’s brace to upset favourites Uttar Pradesh 3-1 in a thrilling Boys hockey final.

Bharath Thakur (4th & 47th) and Rajinder Singh, in the team’s fifth penalty corner, quelled the national champions. Impressive UP earned 10 penalty corners but could convert only one, in the 11th minute, through drag-flicker captain Sharda Nand Tiwari, which was good enough to only restore parity.

“We had finished twice on the podium, with a silver and bronze, but today the boys displayed perfect hockey and delivered,” a jubilant Yudhwinder Singh, the coach, said.

Odisha’s boys bagged the bronze medal by hammering Jharkhand 8-0.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu’s girls got the better of hosts Haryana 3-2 to set up an intriguing final against Jharkand, who defeated Gujarat 3-0.

In archery, TOPS Development squad athlete Parth Salunke topped the Recurve Boy’s qualifications, with Divyansh Kumar of Chandigarh and Juyel Sarkar of West Bengal taking the second and third slots.

In compound girls, Priya Gurjar of Rajasthan topped the qualification standings, followed by Punjab’s Praneet Kaur and Avneet Kaur.

In cycling road events, Chaitra Borji of Karnataka bagged the gold with a timing of 32:51.84 seconds. Leakzes Angmo helped her side win Ladakh’s first medal of the Games after finishing second behind Borji with a timing of 33:52.52s. Mukesh Kaswan of Rajasthan clinched the Boy’s Time Trial 30 km ahead of Jammu and Kashmir’s Adil Altaf.