India dominates SAF Games
Colombo: The fifth day of the 10th South Asian Federation Games saw gold medals from every discipline coming to India. India continued to dominate the games as its golden tally crossed the half-century mark, now standing at 54.
I5 gold medals were clinched by the Indians in addition to the silver and bronze medals. As the boxing competitions were on till late Tuesday night, India, unexpectedly contesting in eight boxing finals, won one gold and silver till last reports came in.
Seven of the eight final battles in the pool were won by the Indians, making the biggest contribution to the gold assortment. Three meet records also sank in the process. Table tennis made the second largest contribution, with the players bringing in three medals from there. Badminton and shooting brought two gold medals each while the boxers remained satisfied with a single.
Leaving only four for the other participating nations India has had a whopping 25 gold medals coming its way; in swimming. Rehan Poncha (men's 200m individual medley, 2.11.22 sec), Arjun Murlidharan (men's 200m fly, 2:05.06 sec) and Faria Zaman (women's 200m backstroke, 2:31.49 sec) all set new records in addition to winning the gold medals.
The others who won the gold were Mandar Divase (men's 1,500-metre freestyle, 16.17:58 sec), Shipra Mahajan (women's 400m freestyle, 4:40.72 sec), Virdhawal Khade (men's 100m freestyle, 52.71 sec), and the women's 4x200m freestyle relay team (9:18.76 sec).
Talking about badminton, India dominated this sport too. Not giving any chance to the other seven participating nations, India completely swept off the seven gold medals that were offered in Badminton events.
In shooting, Junior World Championship gold medalist Navnath Fartade clinched the 10 meters air rifle gold while In boxing, India's Akhil Kumar edged out Pakistan's Abid Ali Baloch 26:25 in a close contest in the 54kg bantamweight.
India is taking part in 17 sports and Indians are all set to bring home a large chunk of the 425 gold, 425 silver and 545 bronze medals at stake in the South Asian games here.
The Sri Lankan capital was recently rocked by a wave of violence but it does nothing to dampen the spirits of over 2,000 athletes who are taking part in 20 sport disciplines.
