India Win 45 Medals At South Asian Games

She finished third behind India’s Damini Gowda, who clocked 01 minute and 04.92 seconds to win the gold and compatriot Hiruni Perera, who won the silver medal finishing with a timing of 01 minute and 06.89 seconds.

For Bidyaluxmi and Arvind, today’s gold were their second overall.

The country’s swimmers, wrestlers and weightlifters fetched most of the gold medals.

Pakistan’s Lianna Catherine Swan won a gold medal in the women’s 200m breaststroke on Saturday at the 12th South Asian Games in Guwahati, India. P.S. Madhu, in 50m backstroke, also set a new record of 26.86 seconds. The Indians created three Games records on Sunday as well. India won gold in all the eight women’s categories, while their men counterparts won six gold and two silver. Sri Lanka’s Anton Sudesh won the gold in men’s 62kg with a total lift of 265kg (115kg + 150kg).

Indian women’s trio of Deepika Kumari, Laxmirani Majhi and Bombayala Devi shot below par scores but it was enough for them to blank their misfiring Sri Lankan opponents 6-0 to open gold medal account in recurve at Polo Grounds this morning.

India play their next league match against Sri Lanka, another minnows, on Monday.

Earlier, Pakistan had defeated Sri Lanka in the first match of the event. Only three teams are competing in the Games and India are expected to walk away with the gold. Tara Devi Pun of Nepal took the bronze with a total lift of 165 kg. In the 2010 edition, India had won three gold and a silver in men’s wrestling while Pakistan had won two gold and a silver. With Maldives, having beaten Sri Lanka 3-1 in their opening encounter, a win for India will see them through to the semi-finals on the basis of goal difference.

Sri Lanka’s Janaka Hemantha won a bronze medal in the Men’s 40km Indoor Time Trial event after completing 43.18 kilometres as Indians Aravind Panwar and Manjeet Singh won the gold and silver medals respectively after completing 45.43kms and 44.25kms. Medals trickled in from wushu competition in Shillong as well with M Punshiva Meitei clinching a gold medal and Swachacha Jatav bagging a silver in the men’s and women’s Nanquan events. The women performed similarly well, with an all-India lockout of V Malvika and Shivani Kataria taking gold and silver at the women’s 400m freestyle.