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The action from Day 3 of the South Asian Games 2019 saw the Indian athlete contingent add a good haul of medals as the multi-sporting extravaganza continues on in Kathmandu - Pokhara in Nepal.
After the end of the second day, the South Asian Games 2019 medal tally saw the host nation Nepal lead the way with 15 gold medals in their kitty compared to India's three gold medals.
Day 3 began on a bright note for India as the Men's Team and Women's Team won the gold medals in their respective Team event defeating the Sri Lankan sides in the final. Both the men and women had defeated the neighbouring rivals Pakistan with ease in the semi-finals to set up the gold medal clash against the Sri Lankans.
Kidambi Srikanth led from the front for the Indian Men getting past the stiff challenge from Sri Lankan shuttler Dinuka Karunaratne with a score of 17-21 21-15 21-11 in the opening match of the tie. Siril Varma was up next for Indian Men as he got the side 2-0 up on the board when his opponent Sachin Premashan retired from the match at a moment when the score read 21-17 11-5 in Verma's favour.
Sri Lanka got one point on the board when Indian Men's Doubles pairing of Arun George and Sanyam Shukla suffered a 14-21 18-21 loss against the Lankan pair of Sachin Premashan and B Tharindu Goonathilake.
The second doubles match saw the Lankan pair of Dinuka Karunaratne and Hasitha Chanaka were up against the Indian doubles pairing of Krishna Prasad Ganga and Dhruv Kapila. The match ended with the Indian team wrapping up the tie and gold medal with a score of 21-14 21-18.
The Indian women's team had earlier defeated the Pakistan side 3-0 in the semi-finals and came into the gold medal match high in confidence and spirit.
The ladies made easy work of the Sri Lankans and got an easy 3-0 win to claim the gold medal. Ashmita Chaliha was up in the first match and got the win with a 21-12, 21-13 score while Aakarshi Kashyap made it 2-0 for India with another straight game win with a scoreline of 21-19, 21-10.
Finally, it was the legendary Indian shuttler and now coach Pullela Gopichand's daughter, Gayatri Gopichand who brought the medal back home for the nation as she won after a stiff fight in her clash that ended 13-21, 21-18, 21-10.
India's medal tally at the South Asian Games 2019 received a further boost with a good return from the Athletics events on Day 3 with ten medals - 4 gold medals, 5 silver medals and 1 bronze medal.
Indian athletes got off to a strong start as the Women's 1500m event saw a 2-3 finish on the podium for India with Chanda and Chitra Palakeez getting the silver medal and bronze medal respectively. The Men's 1500m event saw a better end for the Indian athletes as they grabbed a 1-2 finish with Ajay Kumar Saro grabbing the gold medal and Ajeet Kumar taking the silver. In the longer running event of 10,000 metres, Kavita Yadav picked up the silver medal with a timing of 35.7.95.
India got another 1-2 finish in the Men's High Jump event with Sarvesh Anil and Chethan Balasubramanian getting the podium spots. Sarvesh Anil created a new South Asian Games record with his medal winning jump of 2.21 metres. The Women's High Jump also saw Indian athletes on the podium with Jishna M grabbing the gold with a jump of 1.73 metres whereas Rubina Yadav settled for the silver medal with her best attempt of 1.69 metres.
In the sprint racing, Archana Suseent finished with the gold medal in Women's 100 metres with a timing of 11.8 seconds, capping off the athletics medals for the Indians today.
The Men's volleyball team faced off against Pakistan in the gold medal match and emerged triumphant in a close encounter with a scoreline of 20-25, 25-15, 25-17 and 29-27 as the Indians mounted a comeback after being one set down in the match to get the gold medal. The Women's team also got the top honours as they beat the host nation Nepal in a five-set thriller which ended 25-17, 23-25, 21-25, 25-20 and 15-6 in favour of the Indian women.
India's Anjul Namdeo managed to clinch the sole medal in today's Wushu action when he grabbed a bronze medal in Men's Chan Quan Thaulo event finishing behind athletes from Nepal and Bangladesh.
Taekwondo proved to be a fruitful event for India yet again with the addition of four more medals to India's medal tally at the South Asian Games 2019. Prithivi Raj Chauhan (Men's 68kg) and Kanha Mainali (Men's 57kg) got bronze medals in their respective events. For the women, Radha Bati picked up a bronze medal in Women's 46kg whereas Kashish Malik got the gold medal in Women's 57kg category.
The shooting contingent was highly favoured to grab a good haul of medals and they did not disappoint the expectations on a day that saw three events being held.
In the Men's 25m centre fire pistol event, Yogesh Singh and Gurpreet Singh got a 1-2 podium finish for the nation followed by a similar finish in the 50m rifle 3 positions event. Chain Singh (Gold) and Akhil Sheoran (Silver) got their hands on the top medals with a strong showing for India.
In the Women's 10m Air Rifle event of the shooting category, highly touted youngster Mehuli Ghosh got the gold medal followed by Shriya Sadangi and Shreya Agrawal in the silver and bronze positions as the Indian shooters completed a complete sweep of the event.
A glance at India's medal tally at the South Asian Games 2019
