Khelo India School Games: Haryana top medals tally after impressive performance from wrestlers

New Delhi: Haryana wrestlers carried their state to the top of the medals tally at the end of the fifth day’s competition in the first Khelo India School Games. [caption id=“attachment_3128810” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Seven of their eight medals of the day came from wrestling as the northern state now have 52 medals with 20 gold, 16 silver and an equal number of bronze medals. Delhi with 16 gold, 18 silver and 24 bronze medal are in second position followed by Maharashtra with 47 medals which includes 16 yellow metals. Wrestling and swimming were the two majors competitions that came to an end on Sunday. Haryana picked 14 gold medals in wrestling to emerge as the top team with Delhi a distant second with six. In swimming, it was Karnataka to the fore with 14 gold as against Delhi’s seven and Maharashtra’s six gold. Swimming sensation, Srihari Nataraj of Karnataka was once again among the top stars of the day with two gold and his tally swelled to six gold and one silver while Delhi’s duo Annie Jain and Firdoush Kayamkhani grabbed four each during the week. Annie won two gold on Sunday, while Firdoush added one. Haryana’s wrestlers made a clean sweep of all three medals and their boys did likewise in the three Greco-Roman finals. The wrestling picks of the day were World-level wrestlers Sonam and Anshu, who put up fantastic performances to outshine their competitors. With a ruthless performance, the 2017 World Cadet Wrestling 56kg class champion Sonam got the better of fellow Haryana wrestler Mansi in the 65kg category, while Anshu, a 60kg gold medalist at the 2017 World Cadet Championships, outperformed Karnataka’s Leena Antony. Manu Bhaker of Universal Sr. Secondary School, Jhajjar, Haryana came up a stunning performance in the 10m Air Pistol event for girls breaking two junior national records during the course of the day to earn well-deserved gold at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Ranges. Manu led a clean sweep by Haryana girls who dominated the podium by claiming the top three positions. In the boys event, UP’s Saurabh Choudhary (UP Board, Allahabad) claimed gold in a nail biting finish. The volleyball competition also reached the medal stage, as hosts Delhi will clash with Uttar Pradesh in the boys category, while West Bengal will take on Maharashtra in the girls final. In the first boys’ semi-finals Delhi beat Kerala 3-0 and UP beat Uttarakhand 3-1. Among Girls Maharashtra defeated UP 3-0 and West Bengal lost the first game before winning 3-1 against Gujarat.