Ahmedabad: World championships medallist Shiva Thapa breathed fire on the ring to outclass his Gujarati opponent Aniket J Pandey, and advance to the quarterfinals of the 36th National Games at the Mahatma Mandir here on Friday. Also advancing to the last eight stage was Assam’s Manju Basumatary, who registered a thrilling 3-2 win over Gujarat’s Hetal Sundarji Dama in the women’s flyweight 52kg opener.
Shiva, known for his nimble footwork in the ring, warmed up in style by recording a 5-0 unanimous verdict win over home pugilist Aniket J Pandey. The home boxer was no match to the five-time Asian championship medalist from Assam, who used all his experience into play to keep the Gujarat boxer at bay.
Elsewhere, the very young Hashika Ramachandra (Karnataka) and seasoned Sajan Prakash (Kerala) are set to leave their imprint on the Games after winning two more finals each on Friday to take their gold medal haul to six and five respectively at the Sardar Patel Aquatics Complex here.
The pair has pulled away from the rest of the aspirants to all but seal the coveted honour of the Games’ Best Athletes.
Fourteen-year-old Hashika won gold in the Women’s 400m Freestyle and 200m Individual Medley to finish her campaign with a grand six gold and a bronze Her stunning show pushed the splendid efforts of Olympian Maana Patel, who won her third Backstroke gold for Gujarat, each with National Games records to boot, into the background.
Similarly, Sajan Prakash asserted his premier place despite the game challenges by Srihari Nataraj and Advait Page. The most experienced male swimmer on view snatched the 400m Freestyle from Advait Page (Madhya Pradesh) and the 200m Individual Medley from Karnataka’s S Siva.
Despite frugal returns today, Services remain unchallenged at the top of the medal table with 41 gold, 31 silver and 27 bronze for a total of 99 medals. Haryana is second with 75 medals, including 29 gold while Maharashtra is the closest to becoming the first to total 100 at the 2022 Games, with 26 gold among their collection of 99 so far.
Pooja Patel’s gold medal in Women’s Traditional Yogasana saw the hosts pick up their 10th gold. The home State has won 31 medals in all, across 11 disciplines, not only showcasing the rapid strides taken by its athletes in the past few years but also ensuring their best performance ever. Back in 2015, Gujarat won a total of 20 medals, including 10 gold.
Rajasthan’s Vivaan Kapoor, third in qualification, shot superbly in the final of the men’s Trap Shooting event to win gold at the Crowne Shooting Academy on the outskirts of Gandhinagar. He could sense Punjab’s Zoravar Singh Sandhu shot in the final with greater precision than in qualifying but he kept his nerve to take the crown.
In the Women’s Trap final, Neeru (Madhya Pradesh) shot better than the seven others to edge out Sabeera Haris (Uttar Pradesh) to the gold by a two-point difference. The vastly experienced Seema Tomar’s bronze medal added to the Services’ tally. Delhi’s Kirti Gupta who had topped the qualifications finished fourth.
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