With 67 Gold, India on record breaking spree at SAG

Dhaka: India bagged maximum medals from swimming and track and field events besides creating two new meet records as they surge far ahead of other countries in the medal tally on the 10th day of the 11th South Asian Games here

today. With 10 gold, 12 silver and eight bronze they won on the penultimate day of competition in the Games, India now have 129 medals (67 gold, 40 silver and 22 bronze). Pakistan are distant second with 17 gold, 23 silver and 27 bronze. Hosts Bangladesh closed in on Pakistan for the second spot with 14 gold, 19 silver and 44 bronze. Shooter Surendra Singh Rathod made his entry into record books when he shot 1172 in 50m rifle three position as Indians pocketed both the gold on offer today to end their campaign on a high. India also won a bronze to sign off with 19 gold, nine silver and five bronze from shooting. But it was the swimmers who fetched the maximum gold -- four -- today, besides creating a new meet record by Sandeep Sejwal in 200m breaststroke. They also won a silver and a bronze. Track and field gave India maximum medals -- three gold, five silver and four bronze -- though Sri Lanka dominated the event taking four gold. Bibin Mathew (men`s 400m), Kashinath Naik (men`s javelin throw), G Gayathry (women`s 100m hurdle) won gold for India. It was, however, heartbreak for the Indians in hockey as they lost 4-5 to Pakistan via tie-breaker in a thrilling final match after both the sides were locked 1-1 after regulation and extra time. Further disappointment came from the Indian men`s football team as they lost to Maldives 1-3 in the bronze medal match. But, taekwondo players provided the Indians reasons to smile as they bagged a gold and a bronze to open their account. Indian wrestlers also bagged two silver, while karatekas fetched the country three silver and one bronze medal. Archers continued their winning run to make it to the final in both the men`s and women`s team events. In individual sections, ace archer Dola Banerjee and Bombayla Devi made it to the women`s final, while Tarundeep Roy advanced into the men`s final. In table tennis, India were assured of a gold and a silver with both the Indian pairs of Soumyadeep Roy/Shamini Kumaresan and Amalraj/Madhurika Phatkar making it an all-Indian affair in mixed doubles final. On the concluding day of shooting event at the National Shooting Complex range at Gulshan here, Rathod shot 1172 in the 50m rifle three position en route to his third gold. Rathod, who bettered his national record of 1170 in 50m rifle three position, won his fourth gold in the team event with India shooting 3455 points. Hariom Singh and Devesh Panwar were the other two members of Indian team that clinched 50m rifle three position gold. Armyman Rathod, who hails from Mehsana District in Gujarat, had earlier bagged two gold -- individual and team -- in the 50m rifle pistol event also with a record score of 593. Having shattered the meet record in 200m breaststroke earlier, Beijing Olympian Sejwal set another in 100m breaststroke when he clocked 1:05.01 to better the previous one of 1:07.73. India had a top-two finish in the 100m breaststroke with Puneet Rana (1:06.74) taking the silver. Local lad Mohammad Kamal Hossain (1:07.32) took the bronze. Balkrishnan Melkote Badrinath bettered the previous best of 28.38 when he timed 27.63 for the 50m backstroke gold. India also got a bronze in the same event through Rohit Havaldar (28.35). India`s third gold from swimming came in 100m butterfly event when Arjun Muralidharan (56.86) finished way ahead of Sri Lankan Conrad Anthony Francis (58.44). In the women`s 50m backstroke, Fariha Zaman (33.00) finished first en route to the gold medal as Sri Lanka`s Walakanda Kankanamge (34.56) and Pakistan`s Kiran Khan (34.89) bagged the silver and bronze medals respectively. In men`s hockey, India missed twice in the tie-breaker to go down to arch-rivals Pakistan 4-5 (1-1) in an intense summit clash at the Moulana Bhashin Stadium artificial turf. India took the lead after seniormost pro V Raghunath sounded the board from a penalty corner in the sixth minute of the match to go into the lemon break with a 1-0 lead. But after the changeover, Pakistan bounced back and equalised in the 45th minute when Wasif Siddique scooped the ball nicely over the Indian goalkeeper for the equaliser. Locked 1-1 after the regulation time, both the sides played out another 30 minutes of extra time but the stalemate continued and the match was decided via tie-breaker. Raghunath, Innoncent Kullu and Vikas Pillai scored while Dharamvir Singh and Varinderjeet Singh missed the target for India. For Pakistan, Wasif Siddique, Kashif Javid, Tasawar Abbas and skipper Sabtain Raja found the target while Zeeshan Ali failed to score. In taekwondo, India bagged the gold medal through Anand Pandia Rajan who beat Javed Karim in the Under 80 kg category. India also bagged a bronze through Shraddha Dixit in women`s 49kg category. Kripa Shankar (60kg) and Praveen Tehlan (96kg) brought the two silver medals in wrestling. Shankar lost out to Abdul Karim Wahedi while Praveen was beaten by Muhammad Umar (96kg) in the finals. In karate, India bagged three silver through Anand Laxman Mane (men`s 55 kg), Sandhya Chandraker (women`s kata individual) and Valena Valentina (women`s 45kg). India also bagged a bronze through Vikash in the men`s kata individual. In table tennis, Shamini Kumaresan and Madhurika Pal registered victories over their respective opponents to make it to the women`s singles semifinals. In men`s singles, Soumyadeep Roy and Amalraj Anthony entered the last four rounds. The women`s doubles pair of Divya Deshpande and Pooja Sahasrabudhe also reached the semifinals. In boxing, Suranjoy Singh (51kg), Amandeep (48kg) and Chhote Lal (57kg) made it to the final rounds. PTI