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Athletics
It was the men’s 20 km walk that got us underway today in athletics events. Baljinder Singh of Punjab clinched gold with a time of 1:26:24.20. Chandan Singh of Services was not far behind as he came second in 1:26:29.60. Uttarakhand’s Gurmeet Singh took home bronze after finishing in 1:27:44.40.
In the women’s 20 km walk, Sapna of Rajasthan walked her way to a gold with an impressive finish in 1:40:35.70. Rani Yadav and Priyanka made sure Uttar Pradesh got silver and bronze with strong comebacks from the middle of the field.
In men’s 100 m, Haryana’s Dharmbir claimed gold in a time of 10.46 seconds. Odisha’s Amiya Mallick and Maharashtra’s Krishnakumar Rane won silver and bronze respectively.
Kerala’s Neena Varakil and Prajusha Antony dominated proceedings in the women’s long jump event with jumps of 6.39 m and 6.25 m respectively. It was enough to clinch two gold medals for the hosts. Bhumika Thakur of Punjab won bronze with a jump of 6.23 m.
Sureka Suresh Babu won gold in the women’s pole vault as she rose to a height of 4 m. Kerala’s Dija Chandran and Sinju Prakash finished second and third respectively.
Dutee Chand lived up to her reputation as she bagged gold in 11.76 seconds in the 100 m event. Santhini Valakkad of Kerala won silver in a time of 11.84 seconds, while Maharashtra’s Rashmi Sheregar won bronze with a timing of 11.87 seconds.
Services’ Arokia Rajeev was crowned the champion in the men’s 400 m event with a timing of 46.4 seconds. Haryana’s Lalit Mathur and West Bengal’s Chandan Bauri came in second and third respectively.
As far as the women’s 400 m was concerned, Kerala’s Anilda Thomas and Anu Raghavan won gold and silver respectively. Haryana’s Nirmala had to settle for bronze.
Uttarakhand’s Ravinder Rautela edged Kerela’s Sajeesh Joseph in the finals of the 1500 m event. Haryana’s Sandeep claimed bronze.
Canoe and Kayak
The penultimate day of canoeing and kayaking saw plenty of action as races were closer than expected. Rajina Kiro of Andaman and Nicobar bagged gold in the 500 m Singles kayak event with a time of 2 min, 9 seconds. Karnataka’s Twisha finished a close second two seconds later. Soniya Devi of Madhya Pradesh won the bronze in 2 min, 18 seconds.
In the 500 m men’s doubles kayak, Ramesh Golli and Ajit Singh won gold, while Telangana and Karnataka settled for second and third places.
Madhya Pradesh came on top in the 500 m Men’s four canoe event. Services came second only a second behind Madhya Pradesh. Hosts Kerala came in third.
Kerala’s Nithya Mathai was too good for Madhya Pradesh’s Inaocha Devi and Delhi’s Sanjana Singh to win gold in the 500 m Women’s singles canoe. Ranjina Kiro and Sandhya Kispotta won gold in the 500 m women’s double kayak ahead of Madhya Pradesh’s Nanao Devi and Soniya Devi and Kerala’s Mini Mol and Anusha Biju.
James Singh of Services added another gold to the state’s tally in a time of 2 min, 6 seconds. Naobi Singh of Telangana and Rakesh Singh of Manipur clinched silver and bronze respectively. The team from Services won the yellow metal denying guys from Kerala and Uttarakhand in a close finish to the 500 m Men’s four kayak.
Kerala girls provided more joy to the home state with a fine performance as they claimed gold in the 500 m Women’s four kayak. Girls from Madhya Pradesh and Manipur got siver and bronze respectively.
Cycling
Punjab swept medals in the 1 Km time trail men event. Amrit Singh, Amarjit Singh and Gurbaj Singh won with only a second separating the top three. In the 500 m time trail women, Deborah of Andaman and Nicobar won gold in 37.68 seconds. Kezia Varghes and Rameshwori Devi finished in second and third positions.
It was Services’ 1-2 in the 4 Km individual pursuit men as Manjit Singh and Sombir won gold and silver respectively. In the 3 Km individual pursuit for women, Anjitha Subalithan of Kerala and Manipur’s Abe Devi were the top finishers.
Hockey
The women’s final between Punjab and Haryana saw plenty of excitement in the morning. Manpeet Kaur opened the scoring for Punjab courtesy a penalty corner in the 30th minute. Hardeep Kaur doubled the lead five minutes later with a brilliant goal. Manmeet made it 3-0 three minutes later as she converted another penalty corner.
Haryana’s defence looked out of sorts and Punjab pounced on them in the first half. Devika Sen scored the lone goal for ?Haryana in the 55th minute,but it wasn’t suficient to prevent Punjab from clinching gold.
The men’s final was a high scoring affair with Services coming out on top. Deepanshu Bhargav opened the account for Odisha in the second minute of the game. Siraz, Mukesh Lakra, Ved Prakash, Davinder Singh, Jaspreet Singh and Binay Bhengra added more misery to Odisha’s defence with a flurry of goals within a space of 30 minutes.
Navneet Swarankar did get one back for Odisha, but Chandan Aind’s goal in the 54th minute sealed the deal for Services.
