PANCHKULA, June 7: Maharashtra’s Sanyukta Kale swept all the five gold medals on offer in rhythmic gymnastics to steal the limelight at the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) here today.
Far away in New Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar’s Celestina Chelobroy too jumped into the spotlight by clinching her third cycling gold on the second day of the event.
Sixteen-year-old Sanyukta’s clean sweep helped Maharashtra (24 gold, 22 silver, 17 bronze) sneak past Haryana (23G, 20S, 29B) in the medal tally.
The hosts added only six gold on Day 5 of the Games as their boys went down fighting in the kabaddi and volleyball finals much to the dismay of their fans.
Sanyukta towered over the field, clinching gold medals in all-round, hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon rhythmic events.
While Sanyukta was on a roll, Celestina equalled her own record in the Khelo India Youth Games, pedalling away to her third gold at the IG Velodrome in New Delhi.
The 19-year-old had collected her first two gold medals, the team sprint (with Tina Maya) and individual sprint 200m event, on Monday itself.
She rounded up her tally, clinching the keirin 1500m gold to match her own 2020 KIYG tally.
Maharashtra won both the 4×100 relays, girls 100m, boy’s high jump (Aniket Mane, with a 2.07m leap) to add to their two gold in wrestling and one in badminton.
Sadanand Kumar of Jharkhand was crowned the fastest boy of the meet, winning the 100m in 10.63s while Maharashtra’s Sudeshna Shivankar dominated the girls 100m event, clocking 11.79s.
She then came back to anchor the 4x100m relay team for a gold immediately after the boys achieved the same feat.
Madhya Pradesh’s Arjun Waskale bagged the first gold on the track by clinching the boys 1500m race (3:51.57 seconds).
Manipur’s Huidrom Bhumeshwory Devi showcased her sprinting ability in the last lap to win the girls 1500m race (4:40.40 seconds).
Elsewhere, Haryana’s rising badminton star Unnati Hooda came back from the brink to win the girl’s singles title while the state’s Kabaddi boys team lost a nerve-wracking final.
Fourteen-year-old Unnati, the youngest Indian girl to make it to the Uber Cup team, looked down and out against former world junior No. 1 Tasnim Mir after losing the opening game 9-21 and trailing 11-18 in the second.
But she didn’t give up and began frustrating Tasnim with her patient play. Tasnim tried to force the pace and earn quick points, allowing Unnati to come back into the contest.
She saved four match points, including a lucky net-chord that helped her win the second game. The decider was then a lop-sided affair, with Tasnim unable to regain her rhythm. Unnati won 9-21 23-21 21-12 in 47 enthralling minutes.
Maharashtra’s Darshan Pujari clinched the boys badminton singles gold, beating S Rithvik Sanjeevi of Tamil Nadu 21-15 22-20. (PTI)
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