HSB / Pune
Uttar Pradesh’s Mohammed Rafey and West Bengal’s Prathista Samanta became the first gold medal winners of the Khelo India Youth Games 2019 as they emerged victorious in the men’s and women’s under-17 all-round artistic gymnastics events respectively.
Uttar Pradesh were dominant in the men’s category with gymnasts Rafey and Raj Yadav grabbing gold and silver with scores of 68.25 and 67.50 respectively. Delhi’s Tushar Kalyan clinched the bronze medal with an all-round score of 66.90. Tushar’s won the bronze medal at the Khelo India School Games last year.
Pratishta Samanta beat back a challenge by Maharashtra’s twin sisters Siddhi and Riddhi Hattekar to emerge on top of the heap in the women’s under-17 competition. It was her vault that helped her keep her nose ahead of the Aurangabad twins. She scored 13.00 on the vault to compensate for the uneven bars score of 7.10.
The results:
Men’s under-17 all-around: 1. Mohammed Rafey (Uttar Pradesh) 68.25 (floor 11.90, pommel horse 9.75, roman rings 11.05, vault 12.40, parallel bars 11.30, horizontal bar 11.85); 2. Raj Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) 67.50; 3. Tushar Kalyan (Delhi) 66.90.
Women’s under-17 all-around: 1. Pratishta Samanta (West Bengal) 42.05 (vault 13.00, uneven bars 7.10, beam 11.30, floor 10.65); 2. Siddhi Hatekar (Maharashtra) 40.85, 3. Riddhi Hattekar (Maharashtra) 40.45.