India continues impressive show, wins 29 medals, including 15 gold, to jump spot to in SAG

Track and field athletes led India's gold rush on third day of competitions in 13th South Asian Games as country added a whopping 29 medals to jump to top of medals tally here on Wednesday. India won 15 gold medals on Wednesday with athletics contributing five of m as country's medal tally stood at 32 gold, 26 silver and 13 bronze for a total of 71. Nepal close second with a haul of 29 gold, 15 silver and 25 bronze for a total of 69 medals.   

Athletics gave 10 medals (5 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze) while six each from came from table tennis (3 gold and 3 silver)and taekwondo (3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze), five from triathlon (2 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze) and two -- all gold -- from kho kho. India completely dominated in athletics yet again to take total medal count from discipline to 20. On first day of athletics competition on Tuesday, Indian athletes had won 10 medals (4 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze). Archana Suseendran won her second gold of Games by clinching women's 200m race in 23.67 seconds to add to her yellow metal in 100m dash on Tuesday. Compatriot A Chandra Lekha was third with a time of 24.37 seconds. Suresh Kumar won men's 10,000m race with a time of 29 minutes 32 seconds before duo of Lokesh Sathyanathan and Swamynathan produced an Indian 1-2 in men's long jump by clearing impressive distances of 7.87m and 7.77m respectively.

Ar 1-2 result for Indians came in men's discus throw through Kirpal Singh (57.88m) and Gagandeep Singh (53.57m). Navjeet Kaur Dhillon fetched India's fifth gold of day in women's discus throw with a below-par 49.87m while Survi Biswas' 47.47m effort was good eugh to win a silver in a mediocre field. In women's long jump, Sandra Babu won a bronze to add to India's medal tally with an effort of 6.02m.

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In taekwondo also, India ruled roost by clinching six medals, including three golds. Laitika Bhandari (under 53kg), Jarnel Singh (under 74kg) and Rudali Barua (over 73kg) won a gold each. Saurav and Gangjot clinched a silver medal each in men's under 63kg and women's 62kg events respectively, while Chaitnya Inamdar bagged a bronze in men's over 86kg category. Indian paddlers bagged a gold and silver each in all three events of men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles.

In an all Indian affair, Harmeet Desai and Anthony Amalraj defeated compatriots Sanil Shetty and Sudhanshu Grover 8-11 11-7 11-7 11-5 8-11 12-10 in men's doubles final to win gold. In women's doubles final, Madhurika Patkar and Sreeja Akula beat Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee 2-11 11-8 11-8 11-6 5-11 11-5 to clinch top hours. Harmeet n combined with Sutirtha Mukherjee to down Amalraj and Ayhika 11-6 9-11 11-6 11-6 11-8 to win gold in mixed doubles event.

READ | India Bags Two Gold Medals In Kho Kho At 13th South Asian Games

kho kho event was different as India swept both gold medals on offer with men's and women's teams claiming titles after defeating Bangladesh and Nepal respectively. India crushed men's team of Bangladesh with an innings and seven points win and a scoreline of 16-9. In women's final, captain Nasreen led from front as she chased down five points while her teammate Kajal Bhor also made a vital contribution by claiming five more points.

Indian team wrapped up match 17-5 to finish on top of podium with a innings and 12 points win. Indian shuttlers also continued ir dominating show with four individuals and as many doubles pairs cruising into semifinals to assure mselves of medals. Top seed Siril Verma started day on a winning te for India when he beat Pakistan's Murad Ali 21-12 21-17 in a men's singles quarterfinal match.

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In women's singles, 16-year-old Gayathri Gopichand stunned second seed Mahoor Shahzad of Pakistan with a convincing 21-15 21-16 win. Joining Gayathri in semifinals was top seed Ashmita Chaliha, who also thrashed Pakistani opponent, Palwasha Bashir 21-9 21-7. Aryaman Tandon was ar Indian after Verma to reach men's singles semifinals after registering 21-17 21-17 win over Sri Lanka's Ranthushka Karunathilake.

Indian women's doubles pairings of Kuhoo Garg-Aushka Parikh and Meghana Jakkampudi-S Nelakurthi also progressed to semifinals after beating ir Bangladeshi opponents. While, Garg and Parikh beat Bristi Khatun and Rehana Khatun 21-18 21-11, Jakkampudi and Nelakurthi tched up 21-14 21-11 victory over Shalpa Akter and Alina Sultana. In mixed doubles, top seeds Dhruv Kapila and Jakkampudi had to fight hard in second set against Sri Lanka's Ranthushka Karunathilake and Kavindi Sirimann before clinching match 21-14 26-24. 

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