Maharashtra picks up 4 gold, regains top spot

Maharashtra picked up four gold on Day 5 to regain the top spot in the medal tally of the Khelo India Youth Games here on Tuesday.

Haryana, who had a spectacular day on Monday by scooping 12 gold, grabbed one yellow metal on Tuesday to slip to the second position. Maharashtra's total medal tally stands at 89 -- out of which 21 are gold-- while Haryana has accumulated 54.

Delhi is at third with 41 medals, including 15 gold. Uttar Pradesh rose to the fourth position after winning four gold in the morning session on Tuesday to move ahead of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

 

With no gold coming their way on Tuesday, Tamil Nadu watched Madhya Pradesh jumped over it to the sixth place.

Karnataka picked up three gold on Tuesday, one more than they had won over the past few days, to get into the top 10 where Tamil Nadu and Kerala are in the seventh and ninth spots on either side of Manipur.

Karnataka's gold were won by Abhin Devadiga (men's U-21, 200m), Akhilesh (boys U-17, triple jump) and judoka MN Vasundhara (women's U-21, 63kg).

Yet, it was Uttar Pradesh who minted the most gold medals on Tuesday morning, thanks to the boys U-17 squad's stellar triple crown show.

Vijay Kashyap (200m), Uttam Yadav (1500m) and Mohammed Shahban (hammer throw) shone in athletics while Gaurav Kumar (parallel bars) did the same in gymnastics.

The four table tennis singles crowns went to paddlers from different states: Fidel Survajulla (Telangana, men's U-21), Anusha Kutumbale (Madhya Pradesh, women's U-21), Aadarsh Chhetri (Delhi, boys U-17) and Diya Chitale (Maharashtra, boys U-17).

Fidel rallied from the opening set defeat to down Raegan Albuquerque (Maharashtra) 4-2 while Anusha Kutumbale had it easy against Srushti Haleangadi (Maharashtra), winning in straight sets.

Maharashtra would be ruing missing these two gold that would have helped them widen the gap with Haryana on the medal tally.

At the velodrome, Manipur's Elangbam Singh scored a fine win over Karnataka's Venkatappa Kengalagutti in the men's U-21 Scratch Race while his team-mate Birjit Yumnan took the boys U-17 Scratch Race title, edging out home state's Manobjyti Teron by 0.931 seconds.

Odisha cyclist Swasti Singh won the women's U-21 Scratch Race from Keerthi Rangaswamy (Karnataka) by a 0.246 second margin while Maharashtra's Pooja Danole picked up her second gold by winning the U-17 Scratch Race from Manipur's N Biseshori Chanu by 1.978 seconds.