Guwahati: The star-studded shooting squad was expectedly on target, while the track-and-field athletes continued their golden run as India held on firmly to the top spot by remaining way ahead of the competition on the sixth day of the 12th South Asian Games here on Thursday. Hitting a double century of medals, the Indian contingent has so far garnered 237, including 139 gold, 78 silver and 20 bronze. India dominated the shooting ranges, grabbing all the five gold medals on offer.
However, Olympic bronze-medallist Gagan Narang had to be content with a silver in men’s individual 50m rifle prone event, shooting a one point fewer than Chain Singh (184.1). Later, the Indian team comprising Chain, Gagan and Surendra Singh Rathod won gold in 50m rifle prone event with a total score of 1,871.5. Pakistan and Sri Lanka took the silver and bronze. In women’s 200 metres, Srabani Nanda bagged the gold in 23.91 seconds, while Dutee Chand was second in 24.14 seconds.
It was not any different on the tennis courts where India bagged the remaining two gold medals on offer to cap a memorable cleansweep. Ramkumar Ramanathan beat compatriot Saketh Myneni 7-5, 6-3 in the men’s singles final to clinch gold on the concluding day of the tennis event at the All Assam Tennis Association Grounds.
In the women’s doubles final, also an all-Indian affair, the duo of Prarthana Thombre and Sharrmadaa Baluuishika took the gold after defeating the pair of Rishika Sunkara and Natasha Palha 7-5, 2-6, 10-4 in the final. Indians won all the gold and silver medals on offer in five events — men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
