Maharashtra leads Khelo India medals tally, Assam and Bengal win big

Guwahati: Assams contingent reaped a wonderful harvest on Bihu as their lawn bowlers helped the state double their gold medal haul to six at the Khelo India Youth Games in Guwahati on Wednesday. West Bengal joined Assam in stealing Maharashtra and Haryanas thunder on Wednesday by also winning three precious metal.

The 19-year-old Surajit Burhagohain hit paydirt in the Lawn Bowls boys under-21 singles final with a facile 21-10 win against Jharkhand's Abhsishek Lakra. The boys fours and girls triple teams made the home state's cup of joy brim over. In Assam's only reverse, the girls pair of Abhaya Bharti and Soni Kumari Gupta lost by one point to Bihar's Khushbu Kumari and Nikhat Khatoon.

However, on a day on which 17 gold medals were at stake, Maharashtra and Haryana picked up two each to stay on top of the medals tally. It was at the velodrome that Maharashtra picked up their twin gold medals on Wednesday, with Kolhapur's Pooja Baban Danole winning her fourth gold in girls under-17 competition and Mayur Pawar emerging the fastest under-21 rider.

Haryana under-17 rider Arab Singh won the boys individual pursuit gold while Anjali Chaudhary claimed the girls under-21 25m pistol shooting title to ensure that the gap with Maharashtra would not widen at the end of the day. They would be disappointed that Anil Manglaw was beaten by Punjab's Naman Kapil in the boys under-21 individual pursuit cycling final.

Uttar Pradesh edged ahead of Delhi to the third place after their boys under-17 volleyball team won the final against a battling Uttarakhand. Uttar Pradesh and Delhi have 17 gold and 48 medals each and were separated by the silver medal count.

West Bengal struck gold through sprint cyclist Triyasha Paul, the under-21 Mixed Team rifle shooters Ayushi Poddar and Amartya Mukherjee as well as the girls under-17 volleyball squad. The three gold show on Wednesday helped the state slip into the top 10 with seven gold among their 22-medal collection.

Triyasha Paul and Odisha's Swasti Singh joined Pooja Danole as multiple gold medallists in the cycling competition. Assam's Rimanju Roy showed that he could have possibly finished with a better medal in the individual pursuit by clocking a faster time in bronze medal ride-off than either rider in the under-17 final.

Kerala's lone gold on Wednesday was won by the under-21 girls volleyball team who overcame early nerves to find their A game and beat West Bengal in straight sets. The Gujarat boys, who turned the tables on Tamil Nadu in the semi-finals, went on to beat Haryana in four sets while the Uttar Pradesh boys defeated Uttarakhand by a similar margin.