National Games 2023: Mehuli Ghosh wins gold in women's 10m air rifle event; Leaders Maharashtra surpass 200 medals

Panaji: Top shooter Mehuli Ghosh of West Bengal clinched a gold in the women’s 10m air rifle event in an impressive show even as Maharashtra crossed the double century medal mark to consolidate its top position in the National Games here on Tuesday. Mehuli, one of the 13 shooters who have so far bagged 2024 Paris Olympics quota place for India, shot an impressive 253.7 to take the top spot. Haryana’s Nancy Mandhotra (251.0) won the silver while Swati Chowdhury of West Bengal won the bronze. Mehuli and Nancy had qualified 1-2 for the finals. Punjab’s Rajeshwari Kumari shot a perfect 50 in two rounds to lead the women’s trap event while Gujarat’s Bakhtyaruddin Malek was leading the men’s event with a score of 49 after the completion of two rounds at the Pernem Shooting Range. Meanwhile, Maharashtra continued to be at the top spot in the medal standings with just two days to go in the Games. The 200th medal for Maharashtra came in triathlon mixed relay at the Miramar Beach when women’s individual winner Mansi Mohite covered a deficit of almost two minutes in the anchor leg to help her team get the better of defending champions Tamil Nadu with a time of 1:51.19 seconds. This was Mohite’s fifth gold medal of the Games as she had won the yellow metal in the individual event on Sunday. She had earlier won three gold medals in the Biathle event of Modern Pentathlon. Her team-mate in the gold medal winning team, Parth Mirage, ended his campaign with six medals, including four yellow metals and one silver in Modern Pentathlon. Maharashtra (70 gold, 64 silver, 69 bronze) is followed by defending champions Services and Haryana. At the Chapora river, Madhya Pradesh established its dominance in Slalom, winning all the four gold medals on offer, bringing an end to the canoeing and kayaking events to take their gold medal tally to 27. Kerala swept all the gold medals of the day in Kalarippayattu competition at the Campal Sports Village. Kerala showed their dominance in the oldest traditional martial art form by winning all 11 gold medals. Haryana beat neighbours Punjab in a tense shootout to qualify for women’s hockey final. They will face Madhya Pradesh – who got the better of Jharkhand in another tense shootout – in the summit clash on Wednesday. In the men’s semi-finals, Karnataka edged out Maharashtra 5-4 in a nine-goal thriller while Haryana got the better of Uttar Pradesh by a solitary goal. At the Peddem Multipurpose Indoor Stadium, Services pugilists booked their places in six finals out of seven in the men’s boxing competition. World champion Saweety Boora, representing Haryana, entered the final of the 70-75kg category.