Services top Games comfortably
Source: The Sangai Express / Press Trust of India
Ranchi, February 28 2011:
Services stamped their authority with seven gold on the penultimate day of the competitions on Friday as they left their rivals far behind on top of the medal tally in the 34th National Games.
Having improved on their medal count of last edition on Thursday, Services continued their dominant march on the top with five gold coming from canoeing and kayaking as they totalled 69 gold, 50 silver and 42 bronze.
With just two gold medals decided on Saturday, in men's and women's table tennis singles, Services finished on top of medal tally way ahead of their nearest rivals.
Manipur held on to second position with 48-37-33 while Haryana (42-33-40) displaced Maharashtra (39-43-46) from number three spot with most of medals coming from wrestling arena and the triumph in women's hockey.
Hosts Jharkhand had another fruitful day as they bagged six gold medals to jump to fifth with 33-24-37 .
Services gained heavily from canoeing and kayak-ing events held in the Maithon Dam of Dhanbad where they grabbed five yellow metals.
Friday's performance meant that Services had a rich haul of 13 gold and five silver from canoeing and kayaking followed by Kerala at the second spot.
Services also won the men's archery compound team title while their seventh gold of the day came from wrestling.
Wrestling arena was dominated by Haryana who won a total 14 gold medals including today's haul of five.
Haryana picked up the first of their five gold medals when Amit Kumar overpowered Services' Pankaj Rana in the final of the men's 66kg freestyle category.
Vinod added the second gold medal of the day for Haryana by defeating Delhi's Sukhvinder in a closely-fought bout in the men's 55kg freestyle.
Haryana bagged the third gold medal of the day when Nirmala won the women's 48 kg freestyle final against Delhi's Sumel.
In the 55 kg men's Greco Roman style, Haryana's Rajendra Kumar won the gold medal by defeating Delhi's Manjeet.
In men's 120 kg Greco-Roman style, Haryana's Dharmedra defeated Jharkhand's Rishi Pal to win the gold medal.
Services' Suresh Kumar emerged winner in the 66kg Greco Roman freestyle final against Punjab's Harmendra.
In women's hockey, Haryana beat Jharkhand 3-1 to clinch the title.
Surinder Kaur struck twice while Joydeep Kaur slammed the board.
The hosts reduced the margin through Kanti.
Punjab defeated Jharkhand 2-0 to emerge winners in men's hockey.
Jharkhand won altogether six gold, one silver and two bronze to lead the medal chart in the weightlifting competition in Jamshedpur.
On the last day on Friday, Jharkhand won two gold while Karnataka bagged one.
In the men's +105kg, Jharkhand's Sarabjit Kanda finished on top with a total lift of 345 kg (160+185) .
Jharkhand's Gurmeet Singh grabbed another gold in the men's 105 kg, lifting a total of 303kg.Binitha Devi won the gold for Karnataka in women's +75 kg with a lift of 182kg.In archery, Jharkhand salvaged some pride by winning three gold medals in the team events.
Jharkhand team comprised CWG gold medallist Deepika Kumari, Laxmi Rani Majhi, Rimil Biruli and Seema Verma and scored 218 points for the women's recurve gold.
The hosts also won the men's recurve team gold through the quartet of Atanu Das, Mangal Singh Champia, Jayant Talukdar and Pawan Xalxo.
Jharkhand struck a hattrick of gold medals in women's compound event through the quartet of Bheigyabati Chanu, Jhanu Hansdah, Namita Yadav and Manjudha Soy.
Services team of L Haridas, Ch Jignas, C Srithar and M chinglen Sana won the men's compund team gold.
In tennis, Indian Davis Cupper Karan Rastogi and Delhi girl Ratnika Batra clinched gold medals.
The men's singles champion helped Maharashtra beat Delhi 2-1 for the men's team title.
Maharashtra team also had Shahbaaz Khan, Nitin Kirtane and Ronak Manjuja.
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