South Asian Games: Indian juggernaut continues as medal run breaks 200-mark
18-year old shuttler Ruthvika created a big upset to defeat PV Sindhu in an all-Indian women’s badminton singles at the SAG as the hosts' overall medal tally reached 194 on day 5. India added six more medals to their tally on the morning of day 6 to reach the 200 mark with 2 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze.
Yesterday, the hosts bagged 39 gold, 25 silver and 6 bronze medals on an eventful day at the South Asian Games to add 70 medals to their kitty.
— SouthAsianGames 2016 (@OCSAG2016) February 10, 2016
The biggest upset of the day came in the women’s singles badminton event with youngster Ruthvika Shivani Gadde defeating World No.12 PV Sindhu in straight sets. Sindhu, who was the overwhelming favourite for the yellow metal, struggled against the 18-year old in the first game and went down tamely by surrendering it 11-21.
(Also Read: P V Sindhu: A worthy successor to Saina)
The second game was a much-tighter affair with both shuttlers going neck-to-neck for every point. Ruthvika, who won the senior nationals last year, trailed 8-11 at one point before bouncing back to win it 22-20.
In the opening day of the shooting competition, the hosts made a magnificent start by claiming all three medals in the women’s 10m Air Rilfe. Apurvi Chandela, who has been on a golden run from the start of the year with back-to-back golds in the Swedish Cup Grand Prix, added another feather to her cap on Wednesday by claiming the top spot beating compatriots Elizabeth Susan Koshy and Pooja Ghatkar.
Apurvi dominated the event from the start and topped the qualifiers with 419.8 points to move into the final. The 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist continued her domination in the final and scored all 10s apart from one shot which scored 9.8 to beat Elizabeth by 1.9 points. Pooja Ghatkar finished third in the event with a score of 185.9 to make it a clean sweep for the hosts. The trio also won the team gold with a score of 1248.5 to add to India’s golden run at the games.
Among the 39 gold medals on day 5, athletics contributed the most with 10, followed by wushu with 8, swimming and badminton with 5 each.
1. Athletics – 10 gold
1. Gayathri Govindaraj – Gold - Women's 110m Hurdles
2. Surendhar – Gold - Men's 110m Hurdles
3. Arokia Rajiv – Gold - Men's 400m
4. Neeraj Chopra – Gold - Men's Javelin Throw
5. Ankit Sharma – Gold - Men's Long Jump
6. Sahana Kumari – Gold - Women's High Jump
7. Arjun – Gold - Men's Discus Throw
8. Mayookha Johny – Gold - Women's Triple Jump
9. M. R. Poovamma – Gold - Women's 400m
10. Gopi T – Gold - Men's 10000m
2. Wushu – 8 gold
1. M Gyandash Singh – Gold - Men's Taolu-Taijiquan & Taijijian
2. L Sanatombi Chanu – Gold - Women's Taolu-Taijiquan & Taijijian
3. Uchit Sharma – Gold - Men's Sanshou 52 Kg
4. Ravi Panchal – Gold - Men's Sanshou 56 Kg
5. Surya Bhanu Pratap Singh – Gold - Men's Sanshou 60 Kg
6. Y Sanathoi Devi – Gold - Women's Sanshou 52 Kg
7. Anupama Devi – Gold - Women's Sanshou 60 Kg
8. Puja Kadian – Gold - Women's Sanshou 70 Kg
3. Swimming – 5 gold
1. Shraddha Sudhir – Gold - Women's 200m Individual Medley
2. Virdhawal Khade – Gold - Men's 50m Butterfly
3. Jyotsna Pansare – Gold - Women's 50m Butterfly
4. Men’s Team – Gold - Men's 4x100m Medley Relay
5. Women’s Team – Gold - Women's 4x100m Medley Relay
4. Table Tennis – 4 gold
1. Anthony Amalraj – Gold - Men's Singles
2. Sathiyan Gunasekaran / Devesh Karia – Gold - Men's Doubles
3. Mouma Das – Gold – Women’s Singles
4. Manika Batra / Pooja Vijay Sahasrabudhe – Gold – Women’ s Doubles
5. Badminton – 5 gold
1. Ruthvika Shivani – Gold – Women’s Singles
2. Srikanth Kiadambi – Gold – Men’ Singles
3. Jwala Gutta / Ashwini Ponappa – Gold - Women's Doubles
4. Manu Attri / B. Sumeeth Reddy – Gold – Men’s Doubles
5. Pranav J Chopra / N. Sikki Reddy – Gold – Mixed Doubles
6. Shooting – 3 gold
1. Apurvi Chandela – Gold - Women’s 10m Air Rifle
2. Women’s Team – Gold – Women’s 10m Air Rifle team event
3. Men’s Team – Gold – Men’s 50m Pistol Team event
7. Tennis – 2 gold
1. Ankita Raina, Divij Sharan – Gold – Mixed Doubles
2. Ramkumar Ramanathan /Prashanth Vijay Sunder – Gold – Men’s Doubles
8. Squash – 2 gold
1. Men’s Team – Gold – Men’s Team event
2. Women’s Team – Gold – Women’s Team event
(Also Read: South Asian Games: India continues domination to cross 100-medal mark)