The boxers hardly broke a sweat to scoop all the seven gold medals up for grabs, while shooters ended their campaign with an outstanding tally of 25 gold medals to ensure that India’s reign at the top remained unhindered in the 12th South Asian Games here on Monday.
On the penultimate day of competitions, the Indian contingent continued to be perched at the top with 301 medals (183 gold, 88 silver and 30 bronze). Sri lanka were second on the table with 181 medals (25 gold, 60 silver and 96 bronze).
The boxers were the stars of the show on Monday in Shillong with all the seven men in the final notching up mostly comprehensive victories.
Commonwealth Games silver-medallist l Devendro Singh (49kg) began India’s gold rush when he thrashed Pakistan’s Mohib Ulla. The london Olympics quarterfinalist was adjudged the winner on a split decision of 2-1.
Next man in was 35-year-old former national champion Madan lal (52kg) and he too prevailed over another Pakistani opponent in Mohammad Syed Asif to be adjudged 3-0 winner.
World No.2 and World Championships bronze-medallist Shiva Thapa (56kg) prevailed over Sri lankan W Ruwan Thilina.
World no.6 Vikas Krishan (775kg) put up a brave front, fighting through flu to down Pakistan’s Tanveer Ahmed.
Another from the Indian boxing hub of Haryana, 20-year- old Dheeraj Rangi defeated Pakistan’s Ahmed Ali in the 60kg gold medal bout.
Experienced boxer Manoj Kumar, the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, was also adjudged winner in an unanimous decision of 3-0 against Dinidu Saparamadu of Sri lanka in the 64kg category.
Meanwhile, Mandeep Jangra (69kg) survived a closely-fought contest against Afghanistan’s Rahemi Alla Dad to win 3-0.
However, Afghanistan Amateur Boxing Federation president Abdulla Sattari was not happy with the decision and alleged that the referees “favoured” home favourite Jangra.
“They (judges) want the host country to win all the medals. You ask Bhutan, Pakistan, Sri lanka or any other contingent, who will here about who won the bout. You will get your answer,” Sattari told after the final bout.
“I even told the Indian head coach (G S Sandhu) why have a final eventIJ We’re ready to co-operate and hand the gold to you,” the fuming Afghan boxing official added.
As far as Jangra’s bout was concerned the Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver medalist was adjudged 3-0 winner in an unanimous decision with Malaysian judge Sawalingam Govindswamy handing him 28-29 win in first round, while in the second too he got an identical margin from Pakistani judge Mohammad Aslam.
In the third round, Thailand’s Borworn Boonyong adjudged him a clear 30-27 winner.
At the shooting range in Guwahati, Indian shooters made yet another clean sweep on the final day to sign off with a staggering 25 out of 26 gold medals on offer.
Rio Olympics bound Gurpreet Singh shot gold in men’s individual 25m rapid fire pistol with a total of 28 hits on target, while Sweta Singh grabbed another yellow metal in women’s individual 10m air pistol event with a total score of 194.4. Another Olympics quota holder Heena Sidhu had to be content with the silver in the women’s 10m air pistol event with a total score of 192.5, while 18-year-old Chandigarh shooter Yashaswini Singh Deswal took the bronze.
India also took a gold each in both the team events to sweep aide any competition from other countries in the discipline. India gave away just one gold — to Bangladesh in the discipline. The home shooters ended the competition with 25 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze.
Gurpreet made up for his disappointing sixth-place finish in the 10m air pistol event on Saturday by winning the gold in 25m rapid fire pistol event.
Indian eves win football gold
Shillong: Indian women’s football team handed a fitting farewell to iconic Oinam Bembem Devi as the hosts trounced Nepal 4-0 to clinching the gold medal on Monday.
Young and athletic Kamala Devi Yumnam was the architect of the win with a double strike (32nd, 56th minutes) while the experienced duo of captain Bembem and Ngangom Bala Devi marshalled the midfield brilliantly to hand India its second successive title at the SAG.
However, Indian men’s football team’s long wait for a gold in SAG continued as they lost 1-2 against Nepal in the summit clash on Monday.
In a closely-fought final, India took the lead in the 31st minute with Holicharan Nazary converting a penalty kick but Nepal replied strongly in the second half by pumping in two goals through Prakash Thapa (66th) and Nawayug Shreshtha (72nd) to win the match.
India thus settled for the silver while Bangladesh took the bronze after defeating Maldives 7-6 via penalty shoot-out in the third-place play-off.
India had won gold in 1995 in the then Madras and since then they have played in two finals, including Monday’s summit clash but ended up on the losing side.
In 2004, India had lost to Pakistan in the final in Islamabad. In 2006 and 2010, they had not reached the final.
India shine in kabaddi
Defending champions India on Monday maintained their supremacy in kabaddi by clinching gold in both men’s and women’s events.
Indian men beat arch rivals Pakistan 9-7 in a closely fought thrilling summit clash, while their women counterparts hardly broke a sweat in defending their gold medal which they had won in the previous edition by thrashing Bangladesh 36-12 in the final.
Elsewhere, Indian judokas opened their campaign with a bang with seven gold and a silver to swell their overall medal tally.
Bhupinder Singh (60kg), Jasleen Singh Saini (66kg), Manjeet Nadal (73kg) and Karanjeet Singh Maan (81kg) won the gold medal in men’s category, while Sushila Devi likmabam (48kg), Kalpana Devi Thoudam (52kg) and Anita Chanu Angom (57kg) clinched the yellow metal in the women’s section.
Also, India won a hat-trick of gold medals on the last day, but still finished second behind toppers Afghanistan in taekwondo.
Women duo of latika Bandari and Margerita Regi and male Navjeet Man won gold in their respective categories as India concluded their campaign in taekwondo with five gold, three silver and two bronze medals. However, Afghanistan edged out India to finish on top with six gold, one silver and one bronze.
Also, India dethroned Pakistan in the men’s handball, while their women counterparts also clinched the gold after beating Bangladesh to stamp the home country’s supremacy.
Indian men beat Pakistan 32-31 in a nail-biting summit clash that went down to the wire. The Indian men’s team thus exacted revenge of their loss in the 2010 edition’s summit clash in Dhaka.
The Indian women’s side, on the other hand, defended the title they had won in 2010 edition, by beating Bangladesh 45-25.