Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], February 11 (Always First): Host Madhya Pradesh (MP) won the Boys’ hockey Gold on the penultimate Day 12 of the ongoing Khelo India Youth Games 2022 Madhya Pradesh (KIYG2022MP) on Friday, edging out Odisha 3-2 at Gwalior’s M.P Women’s Academy turf.
Manipur weightlifter M. Martina Devi, broke three national youth records enroute to gold in the Girls 81kg+ category.
Maharashtra however continued their stranglehold on the top position in the medal tally, finishing the day with a total of 53 gold, 53 silver and 47 bronze medals. Haryana and M.P remained in second and third position with 40 and 36 golds respectively.
Also in the day, Jharkhand’s girls restricted the hosts from a double in hockey, winning their final 4-3 ahead of the boy’s final. Kerala and Manipur won the Boys and Girls football golds respectively, while top seed Aryan Shah of Gujarat and second seed Suhita Maruri of Karnataka, won the Boys and Girls Tennis singles gold medals.
There were three more national youth records created at the Basketball complex in Indore, the venue of the weightlifting competition, yet again by one individual. Manipur’s M. Martina Devi won the Girls 81kg+ category with a total lift of 199kg. Not only was her total lift a national youth record, but so were her final efforts in Snatch (88kg) and Clean and Jerk (111kg). In fact, just like Haryana’s Sanjana on Thursday, who won the Girls 76kg, Martina broke a total of seven national youth records enroute to gold.
In the Girls’ 81kg, Andhra’s Ch Sri Lakshmi won gold with a total lift of 191kg. In the Boys’ 102kg category, the gold went to Delhi’s Akshat Sharma who had a total lift of 274kg. In the Boys 102kg+ Chandigarh’s Paramvir Singh won gold with a total lift of 311kgs.
In Gwalior, the hosts were in both the Girls’ and Boy’s finals and expectedly a packed home crowd had gathered to cheer on the home sides. However, Jharkhand won the Girls’ gold overcoming the hosts 4-3 to put paid to their hopes of a double. It boiled down to sudden death in the penalty shootout after scores were tied 1-1 in regulation time. Both teams were again tied 3-3 after the first five shots of the shootout. M.P skipper Yogita Verma then shot wide, only for Jharkhand’s Binima Dhan to convert and secure victory for her side.
The Boys final followed and the hosts fell behind initially. But they fought back brilliantly and the match reached good competitive levels, before M.P edged out Odisha 3-2 with goals from Zameer Mohammed, Ali Ahmad and skipped Ankit Pal.
Earlier in the day, Haryana beat Odisha 1-0 for the Girls’ hockey bronze, while Punjab defeated Jharkhand 2-0 for the Boys’ bronze.
Kerala won the Boys’ football competition at the Emerald Heights football ground in Indore when they defeated Karnataka 2-0. Sreeraj CP (31st minute) and Kiran K (43rd minute) scored the goals for the winners in the first half of the game.
In the Girls’ football final, Manipur edged out West Bengal 1-0 courtesy a Babita Oinam Devi strike in the 74th minute of the game.
At the Prakash Tarun Pushkar pool in Bhopal, Maharashtra’s golden girl Apeksha Fernandes won her fourth gold of the games, winning the Girls’ 200m medley in a timing of 2.24.91 mins. Gujarat’s golden boy Devansh Parmar also won his fourth gold of the games, when he won the Boys 800m freestyle in a time of 8.27.32 mins. Maharashtra also won the Girls’ 4x100m medley.
Yug Chelani of Rajasthan also continued to impress, winning the Boys’ 200m medley with a timing of 2.10.43 mins. H. Nithik of Tamil Nadu won the Boys’ 200m backstroke in a timing of 2.07.81 mins. Palak Joshi of Maharashtra won the Girls’ 200m backstroke in a time of 2.24.02 mins.
At the Indore Tennis Club, top seed Aryan Shah of Gujarat overcame the challenge of second seed Daksh Prasad of M.P 6-3, 7-5, for gold. In the Girls’ singles second seed Suhitha Maruri of Karnataka won gold after beating Tejaswi Dabas of Delhi 6-3, 6-2 in the final.
At Ujjain’s Madhav Seva Nyas hall, where the Mallakhamb competitions concluded, the hosts picked up a couple of golds through Kundan Singh Kacchawa in the Boys’ Hanging competition and through Siddhi Gupta in the Girls Rope competition, respectively. Neighbouring Chattisgarh’s Rakesh Werda, picked up the gold in the Boys Pole competition. M.P won the overall competition over Maharashtra.
As expected, Manipur dominated the Thang-ta, a traditional Manipuri martial art form, competitions at Mandla’s District Sports Complex, garnering five of the eight golds on offer. On the final day, Athokpam Kemi Devi of Manipur won gold in the Girls’ 52kg, while Assam’s Sima Singha won gold in the Girls’ 56kg category. Haryana and M.P also won a gold each in the sport.
In other results from Bhopal’s T.T. Nagar stadium, Maharashtra won a couple of golds in Wrestling. The hosts also won one through Abhishek Yadav, who won the Boys 51kg category. The other gold medals were won by Haryana (Jyoti, Girls 69kg), Punjab (Nitin, Boys 80kg) and Rajasthan (Girls 49kg), respectively.
At the SAI Indoor Hall, Delhi picked up three golds in Judo (Boys 81kg, Boys 81kg+, Girls 63kg+) while the fourth (Girls 63kg) went to M.P.
In Jabalpur, where the Fencing competition concluded, Manipur won the Women’s Team Foil gold over Tamil Nadu in silver and Haryana, who won bronze. Maharashtra on the other hand won the Boys’ saber team competition. They also won the Girls’ Epee team event. Overall, Maharashtra won the competition, picking up four of the 12 golds on offer. (Always First)
