India continued a long run of dominance on Day 9 of the South Asian Games, further extending their medal tally as most events at the games now reach their conclusion. The country’s athletes took two gold medals and a silver over the course of the day's events.
The Indian side began the day taking top honours at the triathlon mixed relay team event.
Shooting
Several shooting disciplines were underway today, with the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event currently in its intermediate stages. India’s Gurpreet Singh led the rankings by a considerable margin.
Olympic bronze medal winner Gagan Narang, who set a national record and won gold at the men’s 50m rifle team event earlier at the South Asian Games, today won silver in the individual category, with compatriot Chain Singh taking the gold medal. SMM Samarkoon of Sri Lanka won bronze at the event.
This capped off a successful few days for Indian shooters at the tournament.
Boxing
The boxing was perhaps the highlight of the day, with several of the biggest Indian names in the sport participating today for a spot in the medals matches. Perhaps the highlight of these was Olympic medal-winner MC Mary Kom, who beat her Bangladeshi competitor, Akhtar Shamina in only a few minutes after a technical knock out in the women’s flyweight category.
Indian boxer Pooja Rani competed against Sofia Javed of Pakistan for a spot in the finals, and came up on top in the pair’s 75kg category match. She will play the finals against a Sri Lankan competitor tomorrow.
Olympian Shiva Thapa moved to the finals of the men’s 56kg boxing event, with Asian Games gold medallist Vikas Krishan Yadav also successful in his bout against Folad Wali Shah of Afghanistan. Yadav will now fight Pakistan’s Ahmed Tanveer in the men’s 75kg category.
Other sports
The Indian women’s handball team made the finals of the event today, beating the Pakistani side.
India’s women’s kabaddi team secured their own finals spot, beating Nepal 45-15 for a chance at the gold medal.
