India win six more golds; medals’ tally is 149

Colombo, Aug 25 : India Thursday launched its athletics campaign at the 10th South Asian Games here in style by winning six out of 10 gold medals on offer to take its golden tally to a whopping 80 on the seventh day of the eight-nation competition.

India, with 43 silver and 26 bronze by close Thursday for a grand total of 149, is way ahead of second-placed Pakistan that have so far bagged 22 gold, 25 silver and 41 bronze medals for a tally of 88.

Sri Lanka have 20 gold, 43 silver and 47 bronze medals.

It was a day when Indian shooters also excelled, winning three gold medals, two silver and a bronze.

Athletics was, however, the most sought after event for the locals and the packed Sugathadasa Outdoor Stadium that can accommodate almost 30,000 people proved it.

Most of them had come to see their most popular athlete Susanthika Jayasinghe, who won the 200 metres race with consummate ease.

Overall, it was India that took the day’s honours in the track and field events, also winning three silver and four bronze medals.

Saroj Sihag (women’s shot put, 14.96 metres), S. Shanti (women’s 1,500m, 4:14.26 seconds), Hamsa Chatholi (men’s 1,500m, 3:44.50 sec), Surinder Singh (men’s 10,000m, 29:41.30 sec), O.P. Jaisha (women’s 5,000m, 16:03.11 sec) and Wayne Pepin (men’s long jump, 7.73m) won the gold medals for India.

The silver medal winners were Vishal Saxena (men’s 200m, 21.51 sec), Regunath Sadasivam (men’s 10,000m, 29:43.09 sec), Sinimoule Paulose (women’s 1,500m, 4:14.71 sec), while Pareeja Shreedharan (women’s 5,000m, 16:52.51 sec), Poonam Tomar (women’s 200m, 24.62 sec), Gurmeet Kaur (women’s javelin throw, 46.45 sec) and Vadivelu (men’s pole vault, 4.50m) clinched bronze medals.

But it was the women’s 200 m event that drew loudest cheers from the crowd. Their star athlete, 200m ace Damyanthi Dharsha, had pulled out with an injury a few days ago.

But Susanthika, coming back from an injury-induced lay-off, did not disappoint as she won the race with much to spare, though her timing (22.99 sec) was not good enough to beat Dharsha’s games record of 22.68 seconds set at the 1999 Kathmandu Games.

Susanthika’s compatriot H.P.S. Buddhika won the silver with a time of 22.24 seconds and Poonam came third.

In the men’s 10 metres air pistol individual competition, Amanpreet Singh captured the gold with an aggregate of 673.7 points (577 in prelims and 96.7 in the finals), while his compatriot Om Prakash won the silver with 667.9 (571 + 96.9). Pakistan’s Muhammad Boota settled for the bronze with 666.4 points.

In the team competition of the men’s 10 metres air pistol, Amanpreet Singh, Bapo Vanjare and Om Prakash combined to win the gold with an aggregate of 1,722 points.

The Sri Lankan team, comprising E.M. Senanayake, N.A. Hemantha and Nelson Nishshanka Pedige, won the silver with an aggregate of 1,688, while Pakistan’s team of Muhammad Boota, Irshad Ali and Tariq Manzoor settled for the bronze with 1,684 points.

In men’s 50m rifle prone, Mangala Samarakoon of Sri Lanka won the gold with a games record of 695.2 points (593 + 102.2), breaking the previous mark of 695.2 held by India’s Nasiruddin Mohammed who achieved that feat in 1995.

The Indian pair of Imran Khan (588 + 102.1) and S.S.

Rathod (586 + 101.1) bagged the silver and bronze.

In the team competition of the same event, the India’s Imran (589), Rathod (586) and Manoj Kumar (582) totalled 1,757 points to clinch the gold, while Sri Lanka (1,745) and Pakistan (1,713) clinched the silver and bronze.

In karate, India bagged two bronze medals in individual kata category. In the men’s section, D. Syngkon was third behind Pakistan’s Ghulam Ali (gold) and Sri Lankan K.V.S.V. Kumara (silver), while in women’s individual competition, S. Ratangatu finished behind Nepal’s S. Sijekhawa (gold) and Sri Lanka’s R.P.S. Lakmali (silver).

In volleyball, defending men’s team champion Indian thrashed Afghanistan 25-11, 25-16, 25-7 in their opening league match, while their women counterparts defeated Nepal 25-9, 25-17, 25-1 at the Sugathadasa indoor stadium.

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