Guwahati: Host India crossed the 100 mark in earning gold having tallied 117 gold, 61 silver and 16 bronze medals to reign supreme in the ongoing 12th South Asian Games at Guwahati and Shillong.
Sri Lanka were trailing second with 24 gold, 46 silver and 63 bronze, followed by Pakistan with seven gold, 20 silver and 32 bronze in the third place.
India dominated the tennis event at the All Assam Tennis Association Complex at Chachal here bagging all the three gold and as many silver medals on Wednesday.
Ankita Raina of India clinched the gold with a thumping 6-1, 6-0 victory against compatriot Prerna Bhambri in the women’s singles final.
In another all-India gold medal match, the tandem of Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prasanth Vijay Sunder won beating Divij Sharan and Sanam Singh 6-3, 6-4.
In mixed doubles final, also an all-India affair, the pair of Divij and Ankita overcame stiff challenge from Sanam Singh and Prarthna Thombre to win 6-2, 7-6 (3).
Not only did the Indians sweep the gold medals today, they have also ensured the remaining two tomorrow by setting up all-Indians summit clashes for a clean sweep on Thursday. Saketh Myneni will meet Ramkumar Ramanathan in the men’s singles final, while in the women’s doubles final, the pair of Prarthna Thombre and Sharrmadaa Balu will meet Rishika Sunkara and Natasha Palha.
The Indians also made clean sweep of the squash team event lifting both men’s and women’s titles finishing unbeaten in the round robin league tournament at the RG Baruah Sports Complex squash complex. Pakistan finished runners-up in both the events losing only to India.
The Indian dominance in the track and field continued for the second straight day with the hosts bagging most of the gold up for grab at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati.
In hockey, India handed a 3-0 defeat to Sri Lanka at the M Tayebulla Hockey Stadium in Guwahati to set up Friday’s title clash with Pakistan.
On the other hand, Sri Lankans Matthew Abeysinghe and Kimiko Raheem reigned at the Zakir Hussain Aquatics Complex with the former accounting for a total of 10 medals, including seven gold. Kimiko also tallied five gold and a silver.
The Lankans missed another gold in 4x100 m women’s relay with the team disqualified for a false start by Kimiko’s sister Machiko Raheem. India were declared winners in the event.
India bagged five gold on the last day today.
In men’s football, hosts India booked a semifinals berth posting a 3-2 victory over the Maldives at SAI Sports Complex.
In shooting at the Sports Shooting Range in Guwahati, hosts India tallied two gold in 50 m pistol men’s team event by the team of Omkar Singh, PN Prakash and Om Prakash and in 10 m air rifle women’s team event by the team of Apurvi Chandela, Pooja Ghatkar and Koshy E Susan.
