Khelo India Youth Games 2022 medal tally update: Haryana races into lead with 30 gold medals, Maharashtra falls back with 25 

Haryana’s all-conquering wrestlers won four out of the five gold medals on offer to help their state take the lead in the medal tally at the ongoing Khelo India Youth Games in Panchkula on Wednesday.

Haryana won two more golds in the track and field events to take their overall tally to 30 gold medals, 23 silver and 33 bronze to storm past Maharashtra (26 gold, 25 silver and 22 bronze). On a drab day for Maharashtra, their contingent could only manage to win just one gold medal.

Antim (girls 53 kg), Pulkit (girls 65 kg), Sahil (boys Greco-Roman 92 kg) and Sagar Jaglan (boys freestyle 80 kg) won gold medals for Haryana. This has taken their wrestling tally to 16 gold, 10 silver and 9 bronze medals.

Maharashtra were a distant second with three gold medals, with Vaibhav Patil adding the boys' freestyle 55 kg crown to their tally.

The Madhya Pradesh and Chandigarh wrestlers won one gold each.

Read: Jammu and Kashmir's coach Mohammed Iqbal came to rescue of Thang Ta in the state

The Karnataka swimmers created three new records at the Khelo India Youth Games. They won four gold medals, taking their Khelo India Youth Games medal tally to six. They also won two gold medals in the track and field events.

Later in the day, Telangana’s Vritti Agarwal swam away to glory, creating a new meet record of 9:24.32s while clinching Telangana's first gold medal in the girls’ 800 m freestyle.

Namayi Ruchita brought more cheer to the Telangana camp when she won the silver medal in 100 m hurdle event, coming behind Unnati Bollanda.

Andhra Pradesh too continued their good run in weightlifting. In the girls' category, Chukka Srilakshmi lifted gold in the 81 kg while Kurnool’s Palati Dhatri bagged silver in the 76 kg event. SK Lal Basheer won the silver medal in the boys' 89 kg category.

Haryana athletes rule the roost in Khelo India Youth Games

Antim, who was seconds away from beating 2018 Asian Games gold medalist Vinesh Phogat during the Commonwealth Games trials, dominated the girls 53 kg wrestling category to clinch her second Khelo India gold medal in three years.

The Hisar girl proved too strong for her opponents, winning three bouts by technical superiority and one by a fall. In the final, she did face a determined Maharashtra’s Kalyani Gadekar but sailed through on her tactical acumen. After the bout, Antim said:

“I am very happy that I am performing consistently and looking forward to next month’s Asian U-20 Championships."

Haryana weightlifter Jyoti Yadav clinched the gold medal in the girls 76 kg with a total lift of 178. Assam’s Suditya Baruah (boys 89 kg) and Punjab’s Dilbag Singh (boys 96 kg) bagged the other gold medals on offer in the weightlifting arena.

Khelo India Youth Games track and field events

In the track and field events, Kiran of Rajasthan threw the Discus almost three metres further than her nearest competitor to clinch her state’s second gold medal in athletics.

Unnathi Aiyappa, the daughter of former international decathlete Pramila Aiyappa, clinched the girls' 100 m hurdles gold medal with a timing of 14.00s. Haryana’s Mohit pipped Rajasthan’s Madhvendra Shekhawat with a timing of 13.62s to win the boys' 110 m hurdles.

West Bengal’s Srinjoy Datta bagged the gold medal in the 10m Air Rifle event, beating Abhinav Shaw in the gold medal match 16-14. Keval Prajapati of Gujarat won the bronze medal.