National Games: Vijay shoots golden double as records continue to tumble

Olympic silver-medallist Vijay Kumar shot a golden double while the swimming pool continued to witness the shattering of meet records on the third day of competitions in the 35th National Games today. After slipping to second yesterday, Haryana were back on top of the medals tally with 13 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze, totalling 20. Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) were second with 12 gold, 2 silver and 6 bronze (20), while Maharashtra took the third spot with 7 gold, 11 silver and 3 bronze (21). Vijay, who won the team silver in last year’s Asian Games, was in ominous form as he grabbed both the individual team gold for Services in the men’s 25m center fire pistol competition. Vijay shot a score of 583 in the individual competition before Services also finished on top in the team event with a score of 1733. Himachal Pradesh veteran Samresh Jung (576) and Services’ Pemba Tamang, part of the silver-winning Asiad team, settled for the silver and bronze medals respectively in the individual competition. [caption id=“attachment_1639527” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Vijay Kumar. Reuters[/caption] The shooting range was witness to some unlikely medallists today with Kerala getting its first National Games gold-medallist in the sport through Elizabeth Kosi, who upstaged a field comprising, among others, former world champion Tejaswini Sawant, to come out trumps in the 50m women’s Rifle Prone event. Kosi shot a score of 618.5 and was followed by Haryana’s Meena Kumari (617.8) and West Bengal’s Kuheli Ganguly (614). In the men’s 50m rifle prone event, Services’ Chain Singh Manhas left the more established Joydeep Karmakar (West Bengal) and Sanjeev Rajput (Haryana), among others, behind to snatch the gold medal with a score of 205.8. Madhya Pradesh’s Samsher Singh Bhandari (204.6) grabbed the silver ahead of Karmakar, who shot a score of 183.1 to fetch a bronze. In the trap and skeet shooting events in Thrissur, World Cup gold-medallist Manavjit Sandhu, representing Punjab, was a surprise bronze-medallist with a score of 25 in the men’s trap finals as Uttar Pradesh bagged both the gold and silver. Anirudh Singh was gold winner, totalling 26, while Anwer Sultan settled for the silver after beating Manavjit in a shoot-off, necessitated by tied scores between the two marksmen. At the swimming venue, Karnataka’s Arvind Mani bettered the meet record by three seconds to clinch the men’s 400m individual medley gold ahead of West Bengal’s Supriyo Mondal and Sanu Debnath with a timing of 4:37.75sec. In the weightlifting arena in Kannur, Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Vikas Thakur (85kg) shattered the Games and the national record in snatch and clean and jerk to walk away with the gold medal. Thakur lifted a total of 339kg (153+186) to create a sensation today. The silver in this event went to Fizaru Nasik. Commonwealth Games champion Satish Sivalingam, who also holds the CWG record in snatch, lived upto to the favourite tag in the 77kg category by comfortably clinching the gold with a total lift of 307kg (136+171). Haryana’s Shubham Verma was a distant second after pulling off a total weight of 294kg (132+162), followed by Chhattisgarh’s Ajaydeep Sarang (130+155=285). In the women’s 63kg category, Punjab’s Jasvir Kaur won the gold by lifting 212kg (94+118), while Uttar Pradesh’s Vandana Gupta settled for silver with a lift of 206kg (93+113). The bronze medal went to West Bengal’s Rakhi Halder, who lifted 203kg (90+113). On the wrestling mat in Kannur, Haryana’s two-day domination was challenged today even though Manoj Kumar added to the traditional powerhouse’s gold rush by claiming the yellow metal in 65kg freestyle competition. He beat another Manoj, representing Uttar Pradesh, to finish on top. However, Haryana were upstaged in the 130kg Greco Roman competition where Services’ Naveen clinched the top medal, beating Punjab’s Gursevak Singh. Haryana settled for a bronze in this category through Sonu, while Maharashtra’s Yogesh bagged the other bronze on offer. Haryana had to settle for a bronze – Satyavart – in the 97kg freestyle category as well with Punjab finishing on top through Gurpal Singh, who got the better of West Bengal’s Arvind Kumar in the final. Madhya Pradesh’s Yogesh was the other bronze winner in this event. PTI