Services emerge overall champions of 36th National Games, Manipur finish 9th in tally
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 13 2022: Services Sports Control Board have emerged overall champions of the 36th National Games with impressive 128 medals while Manipur finished 9th with 20 golds, 10 silvers and 20 bronzes in the medal tally.

Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar gave away the coveted Raja Bhalindra Singh Trophy to the Services contingent for the fourth consecutive time.

They cornered 61 gold, 35 silver and 32 bronze to tower over all the competing teams.

Services emerge overall champions of 36th National Games

The National Games 2022 was held across six cities - Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Bhavnagar, in Gujarat under the aegis of Indian Olympic Association from September 29 to October 12 .

Over 8,000 athletes from all over the country competed in 36 different sports.

The complete list of sports which were competed at the National Games 2022 in Gujarat are: aquatics, archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, canoeing & kayaking, cycling, fencing, football, gymnastics, golf, handball, hockey, judo, kabaddi, kho-kho, lawn bowls, mallakhamb, netball, roller skating, rowing, rugby 7s, shooting, softball, soft tennis, squash, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu and yogasana.

Host Gujarat, incidentally, won the first gold medal of the National Games 2022, clinching the men's table tennis team title after beating Maharashtra in the final.

In the Games, swimmers Sajan Prakash of Kerala and Karnataka's Hashika Ramachandra walked away with the individual top honours - best male/female athletes.

Sajan Prakash won five golds, two silvers and one bronze while Hashika Ramachandra clinched six golds and one bronze.

Both of them are swimmers.

Manipur, which competed in 24 events, bagged 20 golds, 10 silvers and 20 bronzes and finished 9th in the medal tally of India's prestigious multi-event sporting showcase which returned after a gap of seven years.

It was last held in Kerala in 2015 .

Manipur duly retained the National Games women's football crown by beating Odisha 2-0 in the final.

The winning goals of the State were netted by Ng Bala and N Ratanbala in the 9th and 36th minute respectively.

In archery, Manipur won two gold, one silver and one bronze medals while in boxing, the State clinched one silver and two bronze medals.

The State also won six golds, two silvers and two bronzes in cycling; one gold and one silver and four bronze in fencing, one bronze in gymnastic and one gold in roller sports.

In judo, Manipur bagged three gold, one silver and four bronze medals.

The State won one gold and one silver in rowing; two bronzes in triathlon; three gold, one silver and one bronze in weightlifting; one bronze in wrestling; two gold, three silver and one bronze in wushu.

Goa will be hosting the 37th National Games in the month of October in 2023.A date for the next edition of the National Games is yet to be decided.