Maharashtra continues to rule in Khelo India Youth Games

Defending champions Maharashtra continued to rule Khelo India Youth Games, adding five more gold to ir tally on back of a strong show by ir weightlifters, on Thursday. Second-placed Haryana kept snapping at Maharashtra's heels, picking up five gold, including two at shooting range. Maharashtra have a clear lead in terms of total medals (125) but ir 33 gold may t be unbreachable, especially as Games enter last leg in which Haryana usually come into ir own.

Haryana have 28 gold at moment and will hope to reclaim mantle of champions that y had lost last year. Delhi could t muster any gold on day, allowing Uttar Pradesh to claim sole possession of third place with 18 gold. Delhi are w fourth on table, with 17 gold, while Kerala took next place with 13 gold. Karnataka cycling quartet of Danamma Chichakha, Sahana Kudiganur, Keerthi Ramaswamy and Meghna Gugad won women's U-21 team pursuit gold, fetching only yellow medal for sourn state.

Haryana's 13-year-old Shiva Narwal, who claimed sub-junior gold and third place in Junior National Championships last month, was ir top star as he won boys U-17 10m air pistol gold. Andaman and Nicobar Islands cyclists Celestina and David Beckham completed ir respective individual double crowns. y took home eight medals, including five gold. Cycling is only sport from which athletes from island won medals, but Andaman and Nicobar are placed higher than states like Uttarakhand, Odisha and Jharkhand.

cycling competition, held for first time in three editions of Khelo India Games, saw Maharashtra won 20 medals, nine of m gold. Manipur and Karnataka were or teams with double-digit medals. Maharashtra picked up three of four gold medals on offer in weightlifting at Bhogeswari Phukanani Indoor Stadium in Dispur. With a total lift of 134kg, Haryana's Komal Kohar took women's U-21 45kg class title, a division that did t have any lifter from Maharashtra.

Mumbai's Soumya Dalvi defended her girls U-17 40kg class gold. Her team-mate Aarati Tatgunti challenged her to lift at least 66kg on her last clean and jerk attempt to win gold which she easily did. Assam's Chitra Chetia won bronze medal in girls U-17 40kg class, thanks as much to some smart thinking by her coach Alakesh Barua as to a tactical mistake by his Uttar Pradesh counterpart. wrestling competition got under way with Greco-Roman bouts being fought on Thursday. Haryana and Maharashtra shared first two gold medals, winning 55kg and 60kg classes respectively.

Maharashtra's Saddam was impressive as he emerged on top in all four 60kg bouts in rdic tournament format while Pradeep won 55kg gold after his Haryana team-mate Shrikant and he had finished with three wins each since he had won bout between m. Uttar Pradesh's Pankaj took third gold, claiming a comfortable win over Maharashtra's Vivek in final.