HSB / Pune
On a day when there were only gold medals at stake, hosts Maharashtra made a clean sweep of all four gold medals in the Kho-Kho
competition here in Balewadi Complex in Pune. They won the gold medals in Boys and Girls Under-17 and Under-21.
With all four gold medals of the day going Maharashtra’s way, they moved to 68 gold, 51 silver and 62 bronze. Delhi are still waiting to get past the 50-gold
mark as they have 47 gold, 32 silver and 44 bronze. Haryana had 38 gold, 36 silver and 38 bronze. The Top-10 on the tally stayed unchanged from the previous day.
Kerala, showing that they have adapted to the tactics of the sport, picked two silver medals, both in Under-21 section. Delhi (Girls Under-17) and Andhra Pradesh (Boys Under-17) won the other silver medals.
Barring the Boys Under-17 final against Andhra Pradesh, the hosts
Maharashtra were made to fight in all the other finals, though they came
through with the gold in all with the crowd cheering them hard.
The most entertaining match was in Under-17 Girls’ final where Maharashtra
beat Delhi 19-17 as the match was decided through an extra innings which
Maharashtra won 7-5, after both teams were level at the end of the second
innings.
Haryana in three Kabaddi
As the focus shifted to team events, Haryana reached three of the four semi-
finals of the Kabaddi competition. The only exception was in Boys Under-21
section, where Haryana was surprisingly knocked out in the League stage.
Haryana beat surprise semi-finalists West Bengal by a massive 36-point
margin to reach the final, where they meet Chhattisgarh who edged past beat
Uttar Pradesh by three points to reach the final showdown.
The Haryana girls continued their performance in the U-21 category as well as
they beat Uttar Pradesh by a handy margin of 32-26. They will meet Himachal
Pradesh for the gold. Himachal fought a close match with hosts Maharashtra
before winning 22-19.
The boys category, U-17 semi-finals were close. Chattisgarh had to sweat it
out before earning a 29-27 win, while Delhi took on Kabaddi powerhouse
Haryana in the second semi-final. This was the only semi-final, where
Haryana were strained a little. After an initial fight from Delhi, Haryana went
on to win 44-37.
TN’ Manish meets Maharashtra’s Dhruv in Boys U-21 Tennis final
Third seed S. Manish of Tamil Nadu stayed on course for the gold medal by
reaching the final of boys U-21 singles. He Nitin Sinha of West Bengal 6-3, 6-
2. Manish will now take on unseeded Dhruv Sunish of Maharashtra, who
upset fourth seed Paramveer Bajwa of Chandigarh in the other semi-final.
Dhruv beat Bajwa 6-4, 6-2.
In the U-17 girls singles semi-finals, Prerna Vichare of Maharashtra who trains
at Khar Gymkhana overcame Lakshmi Reddy of Andhra Pradesh 7-5, 6-4 and
will play Priyanshi Bhandari of Gujarat for the gold medal. The Gujarat girl
beat top seed Gargi Pawar of Maharashtra 6-2, 6-2.
In the girls U-21 doubles semi-finals, Telangana’s Rashmika Bhamdipaty and
Humera Shaik reached final without conceding a game 6-0, 6-0 against Tamil
Nadu’s K. Balasubramanian and Sai Avanti Revevanur. They face Gujarat’s
Zeel Desai and Vaidehi Chaudhari who defeated Sai Dedeepya and Aditi
Aree of Telangana 6-0, 6-2 in the other semi-final.
Jharkhand meet Haryana in Girls
Jharkhand came back from a huge 0-3 deficit to turn the tables on Odisha and
emerge 4-3 winners set up a title clash with Haryana in the girls U-17 hockey
competition on Thursday. In contrast, Haryana turned the second semi-final
into a one-sided affair, hammering neighbours Punjab 4-0.