'Gold-finger' Chain Singh stars as India continues to lord at 12th South Asian Games

Guwahati: Olympics-bound shooter Chain Singh signed off with an astonishing collection of six gold medals as the consistently dominant Indian contingent added to its medal heap and stayed on top in the overall standings of the 12th South Asian Games here on Sunday.

For the ninth successive day of competitions, India stood atop the medals table with 275 overall (160 gold, 88 silver and 21 bronze), way ahead of second-placed Sri Lanka 167 (25, 56, 85). Pakistan were at third with 81 medals (9, 27, 45).

Shooters were once again the star performers for the country with Chain Singh stealing the thunder from the Olympic bronze-medallist Gagan Narang.

Chain picked up his third individual gold of the competition by winning the men's 50m rifles 3 positions.

There were only two gold medals on offer at the shooting range today and the Indians picked up both to continue their sweep in the Games. India also easily took the gold in the team event of men's 50m rifle 3 positions.

The 26-year-old Chain shot a total of 453.3 to win the gold, once again upstaging Gagan who took the silver with a total score of 450.3.

Sri Lanka's SMM Samarkoon got the bronze.

Chain had earlier won the individual gold in 50m rifle prone and 10m air rifle. The 26-year-old completed a remarkable sweep of six gold medals helping India win all the three team events he took part in.

Narang, who won a bronze in the London Olympics in 10m air rifle, took part in all the three rifle events but failed to pick up a gold.

He won a silver in 50m rifle prone and a bronze in 10m air rifle before settling for a silver in 50m rifle 3 positions today.

Today, Chain led the competition all through. He established a lead of 8.2 points over Narang by the end of kneeling position and maintained it at the end of prone round, though the gap was reduced to 5.8 points.

He had a few poor shots in standing position, including a shot of 8.7, but his earlier lead was good enough to eventually clinch the gold.

The Indian trio of Chain, Narang and Surendra Singh Rathod bagged the gold in the team event with a total score of 3490, while Sri Lanka (3431) and Bangladesh (3398) took the silver and bronze respectively.

After today's clean sweep, India's total medal haul in shooting rose to 21 gold, 9 silver and 8 bronze. Bangladesh are at a distant second with 1 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze.

The gold rush continued in triathlon as well with India bagging the top spot in the mixed relay team event.

The Indian team of Pallavi Retiwala, Dilip Kumar, Thoudam Sarojini and Dhiraj Sawant won the gold with a combined timing of 01:24:31 on the final day of triathlon competitions at the Sarusajai Sports Complex here.

Today's gold was the second for Dilip and Pallavi as they had won a yellow metal each in the men's and women's individual events yesterday.

India thus swept all the three gold medals on offer in the discipline. India had also won two silver, one each in the men's and individual events through Guru Datta and Pooja Chaurushi respectively.

Today's mixed team relay had 300m swimming, 60km cycling and 1.2km running events.

Each team has two men and two women and they have to compete in all the three events. The woman athlete starts the proceedings followed by a man.

The Nepal team won the team silver, while Sri Lanka bagged the bronze.

In Shillong,India managed one gold, two silver and a bronze in taekwondo.

Purva Dixit beat Nepal's Y K Chaulagain in the women's 49kg category to win the solitary gold medal in taekwondo where Afghanistan led the medals tally.

Gajendra Parihar went down to Afghanistan's Mahmood Haidari in the men's 58kg final to settle for a silver medal.

India bagged a second silver of the day in men's 74kg after Manu George was defeated by another Afghan M Sharif Muradi for the gold medal.

In women's 57kg India got a bronze with S Ramchiary sharing the podium with G Sandamali of Sri Lanka.

The boxers also packed a powerful punch by dominating the ring.

London Olympics bronze-medallist M C Mary Kom led the

charge as six Indian boxers stormed into the final with comprehensive wins in the first session of semifinals.

On a comeback trail after recovering from an injury, the five-time world champion Mary Kom's 51kg category bout lasted less than 40 seconds as she was adjudged winner via Technical Knockout.

After Mary landed some powerful blows her Bangladeshi opponent Shamina Akter rarely stepped forward and had a full crouch stance all the while trying to cover-up at the SAI campus in North Eastern Hill University on the outskirts of the city.

Sri Lanka's first woman boxer to win a gold in Asian Championship, Anusha Kodituwakku Dilrukshi, will stand in the way of the celebrated Indian boxer for the 51kg gold medal women's final Tuesday.

Anusha had little trouble getting past her Nepalese opponent Gurung Minu as she was adjudged 3-0 winner by the three judges.

In the men's competition, Glasgow Commonwealth silver- medallist Laishram Devendro (49kg) started the proceedings for India when he did well to dodge Thiwana Ranasinghe's open hooks to win a tight first round 29-28.

Devendro did well to win the next two rounds with ease to be adjudged 3-0 winner in the 49kg.

World championship bronze-medallist Shiva Thapa (56kg) had the height disadvantage against Mohammad Ohiduzzaman of Bangladesh but the Assamese boxer did well to defend himself before landing some powerful jabs with a tactical gameplan.

He will take on W Ruwan Thilina of Sri Lanka in the gold medal fight tomorrow.

2011 World Championship Vikas Krishan outclassed his Afghanistan opponent Folad S Wali Shah 3-0 win in 75kg.

2010 Commonwealth Games gold-medallist and 2012 London Olympics quarterfinalist Manoj Kumar (64kg) prevailed over Tshering Wangchuk of Bhutan with an identical scoreline to make the final.