Sakshi Malik leads gold rush at South Asian Games
Vikas Krishan, Pinki Rani win as 15 Indian boxers enter final.
Kathmandu: Swimmers and wrestlers continued their complete domination in their respective disciplines as India continued its commanding performance on yet another medal-laden day to leave rival countries far behind in the South Asian Games here on Sunday.
The swimmers picked up as many as 7 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze while the wrestlers clinched all the four yellow metals on offer on Sunday to help India add 38 medals (22 gold, 10 silver, 6 bronze) on Day 7 of the regional Games.
India’s total medal count stood at 252 (132 gold, 79 silver, 41 bronze), leaving behind hosts Nepal and Sri Lanka behind. Nepal has won 165 medals (45 gold, 44 silver, 76 bronze) while Sri Lanka have collected 197 medals (36 gold, 68 silver, 93 bronze).
In wrestling, Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik leading the charge as India have so far won gold medals in all the 12 categories.
While Sakshi was unstoppable on her way to the top podium finish in the 62kg category, U-23 world championships silver medallist, Ravinder clinched the gold in the men’s freestyle 61kg.
Pawan Kumar (men’s freestyle 86kg) and Anshu (women’s 59kg) also won a gold each in their respective categories.
Swimmers set pool on fire
It was a gold rush for the Indian in the swimming pool with Kushagra Rawat picking the first top prize of the day in men’s 400m freestyle event with a time of 3:49.76 while compatriot Anand Shylaja took the silver in 4:01.02 for an Indian 1-2 finish.
Supriya Mondal then added another gold in men’s 200m butterfly, clocking 2:02.45, while another Indian, Mihir Ambre took the bronze with a time of 2:09.14.
In boxing, seven Indian boxers entered the finals on Sunday with reigning Commonwealth Games champion Vikas Krishan (men’s 69kg) and 2014 CWG bronze medallist Pinki Rani (women’s 51kg) leading the charge.
While Sparsh (52kg), Varinder (60kg) and Narender (+91kg) were the other boxers to reach the summit clash. With eight Indian boxers sealing their final places on Saturday, India will now have a total of 15 boxers aiming for the gold medal.