Jharkhand archers became the overall champion in the finals of 35th National Games in Kerala on Monday. They bagged three gold medals back-to-back on the same day. Also, in lawn Bowls, the State scored a second gold medal while in Wushu it was the first bronze medal leading to six gold medals in total for the State.
On February 2, wrestler Hardeep was the first from the state to bag a gold medal. He won the first position in 98 kg Greco Roman. lawn Bowler Sunil Bahadur bagged gold medal in singles on February 5. The State contingent now holds the eleventh rank with six gold, two silver and seven bronze medals in the ongoing National Games which is to conclude on February 14.
26-year-old laxmi Rani Majhi achieved her first ‘Recurve Individual Champion’ title in archery with a gold medal. She defeated Sabir Kaur from Manipur. State archers grabbed the second gold medal in Recurve Mix Team comprising Jayanta Talukdar and Deepika Kumari. laxmi Rani Majhi, Reena Kumari and Deepika Kumari scored the third gold medal for the state in Recurve Women’s Team.
“Former World’s number one archer Deepika Kumari lost the individual’s position due to the newly introduced space system in archery like badminton. There is no scope of error. A player would win this strategy on the basis of luck. Deepika and Jayanta lost individuals from their team mates,” Jharkhand Archery Coach Harendra Singh told The Pioneer from Kochi where the archery events were conducted.
“Jharkhand is the overall champion followed by Manipur and Rajasthan in the second and third positions,” Singh added. Majhi was on cloud nine. She said she will work hard for her better performance in the upcoming Asian games. The state players are scheduled to depart from Kochi on Tuesday for their national ranking camp at Hyderabad from February 12.
Notably, Majhi along with Deepika Kumari and Manipur’s Bombayla Devi had clinched Gold in the 4th Stage World Cup held at Poland in 2014. Jayantha is bronze medalist in third stage of the same tournament. Reena is the archery coach at Sports Authority of India Ranchi centre. “In lawn Bowls, Jharkhand had clinched two gold, two silver and three bronze medals,” State lawn Bowls Coach Madhukant Pathak said.
Jharkhand Olympic Association Acting Secretary Shivendra Dubey informed that Deepak Bahadur marked the first win for State Wushu team. He bagged a bronze medal. Jharkhand is still hopeful of bagging more medals as final rounds for Boxing, Taekwondo, Fencing, Athletics, Canoeing and Kayaking are yet to conclude.
