Goa, October 23 rd, 2023: Goa’s wait for a medal extended for another day; Services, West Bengal gymnasts grab gold medals in team events
Panaji, Oct 23: Goa’s wait for the first medal in the 37th National Games was extended by another day as both their men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics teams finished sixth while the Netball teams were knocked out in the group stage despite punching above their weight.
Reaching the knockout stage was always going to be difficult for Goa’s Netball teams. But to their credit, the men’s team put up a fighting display against Maharashtra and then against defending champions Haryana to lose by an identical score line of 56-52. Against Haryana, the local outfit were locked at 25-25 at half time, raising hopes of an upset. But that was not to be as the experienced Haryana team started strong after the break and the hosts were then left playing catch up.
At the Manohar Parrikar Indoor Stadium in Navelim, Goa’s basketball team ran Delhi close in Pool A before going down 61-81 while the women were beaten 60-34 by Uttar Pradesh. In the gymnastic competition, Goa’s women’s artistic team finished sixth with a total score of 128.75 while the men scored a total of 218.50 points to finish on the same spot in standings. Meanwhile, Services Sports Promotion Board and West Bengal expectedly bagged the men’s and women’s artistic team gold medals at the Peddem Indoor Sports Complex on Monday.
The Services team comprising Abhijeet Kumar, Anas Ali Shaikh, Gaurav Kumar, Rakesh Kumar Patra, Saif Sadik Tamboli and Tapeswaranath Das scored a total of 249.35 points, over seven points better than second placed Uttar Pradesh (242.10).
Haryana bagged the bronze medal with a combined score of 240.35. Later in the day, West Bengal once again proved that they are the leaders in artistic gymnastics in women as they scored a total of 175.90 points to grab the state’s first gold in the Games.
Maharashtra took the silver medal with a total of 166.95 while Uttar Pradesh were third with 142.30 points, having a point deducted from the overall score. With the official inauguration of the Games still a few days away, four gold medals have been decided so far with Karnataka (men’s team badminton) and Assam (women’s team badminton) sharing the other two.
Five more gold medals on offer on Tuesday in individual badminton events at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee complex. Former men’s singles champion Sourabh Varma of Madhya Pradesh will look to add another gold to his tally after getting the better of Maharashtra’s Harsheel Dani 19-21, 21-14, 21-17 in the semi-finals on Monday. It was Dani who started strong opening up a sizeable lead in the opening game but Varma clawed back with his trademark tenacity. However, the Maharashtra shuttler did find another gear to close the game.
The second game was a much closer affair till Dani slipped while going for a tap and seemed to have strained his right knee. It took time for him to once again find his rhythm and Varma pounced on the opportunity like only he can. He took the second game rather easily and had opened up a 15-5 lead in the decider. Even a late fight back wasn’t enough for Dani to turn things around and Varma closed the 57-minute encounter on his second match point.
The 30-year-old will now face Telangana’s M Tharun, who got the better of second seed M Mithun 12-21, 21-14, 22-20 in an hour and seven minutes.
In women’s singles semifinals, Uttarakhand’s Aditi Bhatt saved two match points in the second game to beat M Meghana Reddy of Telangana 7-21, 24-22, 21-16. She will now face national champion Anupama Upadhayaya of Haryana, who packed off top seed Aakarshi Kashyap of Chattisgarh 21-13, 21-17.
In the basketball competition that started on Monday at the Manohar Parikar stadium in Navelim, favourites Punjab men rode on a strong performance from Kanwar Gurbaz Sandhu (22 points) and Prince Pal Singh (19 points) to defeat Telangana 87-57 in their opening Pool A clash. Nathan Abraham Billa top scored for Telangana with 21 points.
Important Results Badminton (semifinals):
Men’s Singles: Sourabh Varma (MP) bt Harsheel Dani (Mah) 19-21, 21-14, 21-17; 4-M Tharun (Tel) bt 2-M Mithun (Kar) 12-21, 21-14, 22-20
Women’s Singles: Aditi Bhatt (UTR) bt M Meghana Reddy (Tel) 7-21, 24-22, 21-16; Anupama Upadhayay (Har) bt 1-Aakarshi Kashyap (Chattisgarh) 21-13, 21-17
Men’s Doubles: 2-Hariharan Amsakarunan/R Ruban Kumar (TN) bt Prakash Raj/Vaibhaav (Kar) 21-13, 21-14; HV Nithin/K Pruthvi Roy (Kar) bt Deep Rambiya/Akshan Shetty (Mah) 21-17, 21-14
Women’s Doubles: 1-Sikha Gautam/Ashwini Bhat K (Kar) bt Kavya Gupta/Deepshikha Singh (Del) 21- 18, 24-22; Simran Singhi/Ritika Thaker (Mah) bt 2-R Arubala/VS Varshini (TN) 21-16, 21-12
Mixed Doubles: Gouse Shaikh/D Pooja (AP) 2-Nitin Kumar/Kanika Kanwal (Del) 21-18, 21-14; 1- Navneeth Bokka/K Maneesha (TeL) bt Suraj Goala/Manali Bora (Asm) 21-14, 21-15
Basketball Men: Pool A: Punjab bt Telangana 87-57; Delhi bt Goa 81-61 Pool B: Tamil Nadu bt Rajasthan 116-52; Services bt Kerala 73-70 Women: Pool A: Kerala bt West Bengal 113-24; Uttar Pradesh bt Goa 60-34 Pool B: Karnataka bt Delhi 74-71;
Gymnastics: Men’s Artistic Team: Gold: Services (249.35); Silver: Uttar Pradesh (242.10); Bronze: Haryana (240.35)
Women’s Artistic Team: Gold: West Bengal (175.90), Silver: Maharashtra (166.95, Bronze: Uttar Pradesh (142.30) Netball Men: Pool A: Maharashtra bt Goa 56-52; Haryana bt Goa 56-52 Pool B: Kerala bt Telangana 77-43
Women Pool A: Haryana bt Telangana 59-52; Himachal Pradesh bt Goa 44-38 Pool B: Delhi drew with Uttar Pradesh 44-44; Karnataka bt Gujarat 61-49
About National Games The 37th National Games Goa 2023 is a prestigious sporting event aimed at promoting sportsmanship and unity across India. It will feature 43 sports disciplines with over 10,000+ athletes that will compete from 28 Indian States, eight Union Territories and Services. The event will take place from October 26th to November 9th, 2023, at 28 venues across Goa, India.