12th South Asian Games: Dominant India adds to medals tally on Day 8 of competition

Guwahati: The Indian juggernaut rolled on unabated as the star-studded boxing squad joined the shooters, triathlon and taekwondo players in what is turning out to be an outing of unprecedented dominance by the host country at the 12th South Asian Games here on Saturday.

Indian shooters grabbed all the six gold on offer while triathlon players joined the party by winning both the gold and two silver as the hosts swept aside the challenge from other countries.

India stood atop with 268 medals (156 gold, 85 silver and 27 bronze), way ahead of second placed Sri Lanka 163 (25, 55, 83). Pakistan were at third with 81 medals (9, 27, 45).

Omkar Singh (men's 10m air pistol), Rahi Sarnobat (women's 25m pistol) and Anjum Moudgil (women's 50m rifle 3 positions) clinched a gold each, while India also bagged the top spot in all three team events at the Kahilipara Shooting Range here.

Indians finished 1-2 in both men's and women's individual triathlon events at the Sarusajai Sports Complex. Dilip Kumar bagged the men's individual event gold with a time of 2:02:53, while compatriot Guru Datta won the silver in 2:05:31. Nuwan Kumara of Sri Lanka took the bronze in 2:10:38.

In the women's individual event, Pallavi Retiwala won the gold with a time of 1:11:57, while team-mate Pooja Chaurushi got the silver in 1:12:36. K C Roja of Nepal took the bronze in 1:16:00.

In Shillong, Indian pugilists remained on course to bag the 10 gold medals on offer as all of them advanced to the semifinals with easy wins over their respective opponents.

Star boxers Laishram Devendro and Shiva Thapa bludgeoned their way to convincing wins over their hapless opponents, Tashi Wangdi of Bhutan, and Nepal's Shrestha Dinesh, respectively. Asian gold medallist Vikas Krishnan also tasted success on the first day of event. So were Laishram Sarita, Pooja Rani Devi, Madan Lal, Dheeraj (60kg), Mandeep Jangra (69kg).

Five-time world champion M C Mary Kom got a first round bye and the London Olympics bronze medallist will face Bangladesh's Shamina Akter in the semis tomorrow.

India bagged one gold, one silver and a bronze to begin their campaign on a rousing note in tae-kwondo.

The Indian men and women football teams qualified for the finals of their respective events after comprehensive wins over their counterparts from Bangladesh. While the men recorded an easy 3-0 result, the women thrashed their opponents 5-1 to secure a place in the title clash.

India's men and women kabaddi teams maintained their unbeaten run with comfortable victories over their Pakistani rivals to storm into the semifinals.

In taekwondo, P Kumar defeated R Husseini of Afghanistan in 87kg men's final to clinch India's only gold from four events of the day at the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences on the outskirts of Shillong city.

Abrar Khan bagged the silver after going down to Afghanistan's Mohsen Rezaei in men's 54kg final, while Naveen (68kg) bagged the bronze.

The home country's domination in shooting was such that in the three individual events of the day, India swept all the medals in two while winning a gold and a bronze in the remaining one.

Pakistan's Kaleemullah (men's 10m air pistol) was the lone non-Indian to get a medal today in shooting, bagging a silver.

With today's show, the star-studded Indian shooting team, which has six Rio Olympics bound shooters, has taken its tally to 18 gold, 8 silver and 8 bronze in four days. Two days are left in the competition.

The day also saw Olympics bound Gurpreet Singh coming up with a disappointing performance in men's 10m air pistol as he finished sixth in the event won by compatriot Omkar who shot 198.8. Another Indian, Jitendra Vibhute, bagged the bronze.

Omkar, Gurpreet and Jitendra then took the team gold in men's 10m air pistol event with a total score of 1735. Pakistan (1700) and Sri Lanka (1663) took the silver and bronze respectively.

In the women's 25m pistol final, Sarnobat won the gold medal match against compatriot Annuraj Singh with eight points to two, while Anisa Sayyed took the bronze by prevailing over Farhat Nasreen of Pakistan.

India took the team event gold with Sarnobat, Anisa and Annuraj scoring a total of 1741. Sri Lanka (1654) and Pakistan (1631) got the silver and bronze respectively.

There was a tough fight for the gold in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions between Moudgil and Elizabeth Susan Koshy. Moudgil was the better of the two in the kneeling position but Koshy made up the deficit with a strong show in prone.

But, Moudgil took control in the standing position and had taken such a huge lead, that even a very poor 8.0 in the gold medal deciding round could not stop her from grabbing the top spot with a total score of 452.2. Koshy was second with a total of 451.9 while another Indian, Lajja Gauswami, took the bronze.

Moudgil, Koshy and Gauswami then shot down the gold in the team event with a total score of 1726. Sri Lanka (1686) and Pakistan (1656) won the silver and bronze respectively.

Not just at the range, India put up a solid show in the ring too. Laishram Sarita outclassed Bangladeshi rookie Akter Saki in a technical knockout lasting less than 30 seconds to storm into the boxing semis in the 60kg.

In the last bout of the day, Pooja Rani Devi overwhelmed Sunar Sangita (Nepal) in women's 75kg.

In Kabaddi, the Indian men's team thrashed Bangladesh 30-17 in the morning session before scrapping past Pakistan in the evening with a 9-8 result at the R G Baruah Sports Complex. The home team topped the league table with an unbeaten record.

In the women's section, India toyed with their Pakistani opponents to emerge an easy 56-23 victors before thrashing Bangladesh 43-11 in their last league match to top the group with a clean slate.

As far as football is concerned, the India U-23 team registered a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Bangladesh to breeze into the final of men's event.

India led 2-0 at the interval.

After Udanta Singh put India into the lead in the 22nd minute, Mawihmingthanga followed it up with a fantastic strike from outside the box five minutes before the interval.

Changing over, Jayesh Rane sealed the fate in the 65th minute, which also saw Bangladesh coach Gonzalo Moreno being sent to the stands.

In women's football, Kamala Devi Yumnam and Ngangom Bala Devi struck two goals each to power defending champions India to a 5-1 thrashing of Bangladesh and set up a summit clash with Nepal. The final will be a repeat of the 2010 Dhaka Games, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Monday.