National Games 2023: Archer Deepika Kumari wins two gold medals; Maharashtra continue to lead overall medals tally

Panaji: Former world No. 1 archer Deepika Kumari clinched two gold and a silver medal, while Asian Championships gold medal-winning shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar bagged the top spot in 50m rifle 3-positions event at the National Games in Panaji on Monday. Deepika, representing Jharkhand, began her medal rush with a gold in women’s individual category and later paired with Mrinal Chauhan to secure the top podium finish in the mixed team category. She also helped Jharkhand win silver in the women’s team event, where they lost to Haryana in the shootout. Table-toppers Maharashtra, third-placed Haryana and Assam shared the other gold medals in recurve as the archery events came to an end on Monday. With three more days remaining, Maharashtra are leading the medals tally with 68 gold, while Services and Haryana are second and third with 54 and 50 gold medals respectively. In shooting, Tomar pipped Niraj Kumar of Services to win gold. Services’ Chain Singh, who had topped the qualifying, won the bronze. In men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol, Vijayveer Sidhu, representing Punjab, clinched the gold medal while Haryana’s Anish Bhanwala and Adarsh Singh won the silver and bronze respectively. In judo, Delhi won three out of the eight gold medals on offer while Manipur bagged two. Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab won the other three gold medals. Punjab and Odisha shared the coastal beach sprint mixed team event gold while Madhya Pradesh bagged the women’s kayak quadruples. Suman Devi of Haryana clinched gold in the coastal beach sprint women’s event ahead of Telangana’s Beeda Hemalatha and Maharashtra’s Nikita Darekar. In the men’s category, Services’ Salman Khan pipped Olympian rower Dattu Bhokanal of Maharashtra to win gold, while Odisha’s Sourbh Kumar won the bronze. Services beat Kerala 4-2 in the first semifinal of the football competition to book their place in the title round. They will face Manipur, who beat Punjab 2-1.