37th National Games: Deepika Kumari Bags Two gold medals and a Silver, Manipur Set up Men’s Football Final Against Services – News18

Former World No. 1 archer Deepika Kumari hogged the limelight on the 12th day of the 37th National Games winning two gold medals and a silver at the Goa Engineering College, Farmagudi while Olympian Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar once again underlined his supremacy in 50m Rifle 3-position shooting event in Manderem.

Table toppers Maharashtra, third-placed Haryana and Assam shared the other gold medals in the recurve category as the archery events came to an end.

With three more days left for the closing ceremony, Maharashtra remains on top of the medal tally with 68 gold medals while Services Sports Control Board and Haryana are in second and third positions with 54 and 50 gold medals respectively and maintain the pressure on the table toppers.

Follow all the action from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 including the World Cup schedule, World Cup 2023 results, and ICC Cricket World Cup points table. Players are vying to top the World Cup 2023 Most Runs and World Cup 2023 Most Wickets charts. 

Deepika began her medal rush with a gold in the women’s individual category and later teamed up with Mrinal Chauhan to win the gold in the mixed team category. She also helped Jharkhand win the silver in the team event where they lost to Haryana in the shootout.

In the shooting competition at the Manderem Range, Tomar pipped Niraj Kumar of SSCB to win the gold in the Men’s 50 M Rifle 3 Positions. SSCB Chain Singh, who had topped the qualifying, won the bronze.

In the Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol, Vijayveer Sidhu representing Punjab clinched the gold while Haryana’s Anish Bhanwala and Adarsh Singh won the silver and bronze respectively.

In the judo competitions at Campal Games Village, Delhi won three out of the eight gold medals on offer while Manipur won two. Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab won the other three golds.

In the morning session, Punjab and Odisha shared the coastal beach sprint mixed team event gold while Madhya Pradesh bagged the Women’s kayak quadruples.

At the Dona Paula beach, Suman Devi of Haryana won 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, SSCB’s Salman Khan pipped Olympian rower Dattu Bhokanal of Maharashtra to win the gold while Odisha’s Saurabh Kumar won the bronze.

ALSO READ| ‘I Would Add a Third…’: Argentine Pope Francis Adds Pele in Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi GOAT Debate

Manipur to face Services in final of Men’s football

Services and Manipur reached the final of the men’s football event in the 37th National Games, winning their matches in contrasting styles against tough opponents at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, Goa.

While Services were the runaway 4-2 winners against a strong Kerala outfit in the day’s first match, Manipur didn’t have it easy against Punjab. The northeastern state, however, had the last laugh as they managed a 2-1 victory in the end. The final will be played on Wednesday.

In the Services-Kerala match, the latter took the lead in the 27th minute when Nijo Gilbert scored from the spot. Services restored parity just before halftime through Rahul Ramakrishnan, who scored again five minutes after the change of ends.

Two more goals from P. Christopher Kemei and Bikash Thapa finally sealed the deal in favour of Services. In between, Sanju G. reduced the margin for Kerala, but it didn’t help them in the end.

In the second semifinal, Manipur took a 2-0 lead at halftime with goals from Phijam Sanathoi Metei and Leimajam Sangkar Singh.

In the second half, Punjab made all efforts to come back to the game and pulled one back through Abhishek Rattu. Manipur, however, held on to their slim lead grimly till the final whistle.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)