Anandpur Sahib, November 27:: It was another lean day for Manipur winning just one more gold, but so too for most other states as there were not too many medals on offer today.

The one gold however is enough for the state to retain its current standing as number two in the medal tally with 25 golds.

Manipur opened its accounts on the Judo mat today with a gold won by O Riza Chanu in the 78 kg category.

She defeated Punjab's Aarti Sharma in the final in style.

In just three moves, the burly lady brought down her rival and pinned her down with a deadlock till the referee signaled the match over.

The bronze in the category was shared by Seema Gill (Haryana) and Kuljeet Kaur (J&K).

Manipur's medal hope in the 70 kg category ended with the defeat of Y Sandhyarani Devi by Seema Chumar of Haryana in a close fight for the bronze.

Sandhyarani had earlier in the morning eliminated two other women in the medal run.

In all, four gold medals were decided today in the discipline, two going to host Punjab and the remaining shared between Manipur and Haryana.

Boxing: In boxing, Manipur's Dhanabir Singh entered the final defeating his opponent from Mizoram, assuring at least another silver if not the gold for the state.

Confusion prevailed in the netball ground and at the end of it, the Manipur women's team ended up having to drop out of the competition even before it began.

The players suffered because of the confusion and the communication gap that resulted because of it, between the Games organizers, the Netball Federation of India and its state unit in Manipur.

The Manipur team arrived at the venue, but they were unable to produce official confirmation order for their participation.

Netball had been keeping a low profile in the national arena and it was unsure if it would be included in the Punjab Games till the last moment, but when it was finally announced that it would be the Manipur team approached the Manipur Olympics Association.

The MOA's communication on the matter was responded by the Games technical director, DK Tandon, asking the MOA to send its team, verbally but not on paper.

Everything was taken for granted thereafter, but ultimately at the cost of the state players.

The neglect it seems is because initially the discipline was intended to be included as a non competitive event, with the medals won from it not to be added to the overall tally.

In the last minute however, the officials changed their minds and decided to include it in the competitive section.

In another unfortunate development, another slate judoka representing UP, Y Landhoni, too was denied permission to participate in the tourney as she was not able to provide domicile certificate.

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