National Games 2023: Maharashtra continue to dominate gymnastics at the Games in Goa

Panaji: Sanyukta Kale of Maharashtra and Pranati Nayak of Odisha hogged the limelight in the gymnastic arena by securing their third gold medal each, while Maharashtra dominated the Modern Pentathlon medal tally with five gold in the 37th National Games here on Friday. Rhythmic gymnast Sanyukta Kale bagged her third gold medal and Rahil Pakhle clinched the women’s trampoline gold as Maharashtra continued their domination of the gymnastics events at the Peddem Indoor Sports Complex. Sanyukta, who had earlier won the rhythmic team and all-round gold medals, clinched the hoop gold to make it three at the games. Artistic gymnast, Pranati Nayak who had won gold in individual all round category, finished on top of the podium in vaulting table and uneven bars to take her individual tally to three golds. Later, Yogeshwar Singh of Haryana won his second gold medal of the games winning the men’s floor exercise competition. Manipur won two golds in gymnastics, while Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh opened their gold medal tally in the sport. Maharashtra did a clean sweep in Triathle event of Modern Pentathlon, winning all five gold medals on offer. Mayank Chaphekar and Dolly Patil won three gold medals each. At the Campal Sports Village, Nitek Jangid of Rajasthan clinched the first gold for his state in this edition of the National Games with a total lift of 317 kg in the men’s 81 Kg weightlifting competition. Valluri Ajay Babu of Madhya Pradesh won the silver lifting 312 kg, while Abhishek Nipane of Maharashtra won bronze with a total lift of 309 Kg. In the women’s 71 Kg category, Punjab’s Harijinder Kaur lifted an aggregate weight of 201 Kg on her way to securing the gold medal. Trupti Mane of Maharashtra finished a distant second with a total lift of 190 Kg and Manipur’s P. Umeshwori Devi secured bronze with a total lift of 189 Kg. In men’s 89 Kg category, all three medallists were decided on fine margins as just two kilograms separated the gold and bronze medal winners. Gaurav of Chandigarh secured gold with a total lift of 319 Kg overcoming PS Marush of SSCB by a single kilogram who settled for a silver. Amarjit Guru of Punjab lifted an impressive 317 Kg but had to settle for bronze. At the Campal Indoor Stadium, Haryana completed a clean sweep in Netball winning all four gold medals on offer. In the men’s Fast 5 finals, Haryana beat hosts Goa 33-22, while the women beat Punjab 40-15 to complete the clean sweep. Odisha beat Bihar 12-7 to defend their title in Women’s Rugby 7s, while Haryana beat Maharashtra 14-0 to win the gold which was held at Athletics Stadium, Bambolim. Odisha beat Maharashtra 10-0 to win the bronze in the men’s category, while West Bengal beat Maharashtra 12-10 to win the bronze in the women’s category. At the Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, Punjab won the gold in women’s Sabre Team event. In the final, Kerala were leading 27-24, but an injury to Josna Christy Jose forced Kerala to forfeit the match and settle for the silver. Tamil Nadu and Haryana secured the bronze medals. In men’s Individual Sabre, KP Gishonidhi of SSCB beat Karan Singh of Rajasthan to win the gold. Abhay Shinde of Maharashtra and Gorakh Nath Yadav of Uttar Pradesh won the bronze medals. In men’s Epee Individual, Sunil Kumar won the gold beating S. Sherin Rajendran of Tamil Nadu. The bronze medals were won by Girish Jakate of Maharashtra and Pankaj Kumar Sharma of SSCB.