Maharashtra’s Rupali Sunil Gangawane produced a clinical performance to claim her second gold medal in the 36th Mallakhamba National Games competition at the Sanskardham Sports Academy in Ahemdabad on Monday. The Mumbaikar clinched the women’s individual all-around crown to add to the Maharashtra women’s team’s gold. Rupali Gangawane, the 23-year-old reigning queen of Mallakhambhu, scored 17.80 points in the Pole and the Rope to win the gold by 0.50 points from her teammate Janhavi Suresh Jadhav. These achievements helped Maharashtra move to second place in the medal tally with 32 gold medals behind Services and ahead of Haryana.
With Ajatasatru Sharma, S Albert Raj, Bhumjit Singh and Gyanjit Arambam paddling in unison to K4 Sprint gold in the Sabarmati River Canoeing and Kayaking competition, Services took their gold haul to 52. Services have a total of 33 silver and 29 bronze 114 medals. Maharashtra has a total of 122 medals, including 32 golds, while Haryana is third with 31 golds out of a total of 98. However, there was a huge disappointment for the Maharashtra Men’s Hockey team who in the semi-final at the Maj. Stadium. Dhyan Chand failed to get the most out of his pre-match favorite against Uttar Pradesh in Rajkot. Maharashtra rallied from three goals down to take the match to a penalty shoot-out, but luck ran out.
Sumit scored in the 22nd minute to give Uttar Pradesh the lead. Sunil Yadav doubled the tally with a penalty corner goal in injury time in the second quarter, while Manish Yadav made it 3-0 with a penalty corner conversion seven minutes into the third quarter. Maharashtra bounced back through Aniket Gurav (40th and 47th minutes) and Sayyad Niyaz Rahim (55). In the shootout, the teams were tied 2:2 after four attempts. Rajkumar Pal and Rahul Kumar Rajbhar put Uttar Pradesh 2-0 up before Darshan Gawkar and Yuvraj Walmiki brought Maharashtra back into the contest. Venkatesh Kenche failed to get past Uttar Pradesh keeper Prashant Kumar while skipper Lalit Kumar Upadhyay found the winner.
Back at Sabarmati, it was heartening to watch the experienced Rajina Kiro hold her own in the women’s K1 500m sprint against Kaushal Nandini Thakur (Chhattisgarh) and Pooja (Haryana). Rahasri Manogar Babu (Tamil Nadu) won the women’s singles soft tennis gold with an easy win over Aadhya Tiwari (Madhya Pradesh). She then had to do her best as she beat local Hetvee Chaudhary 1-4, 2-4, 4-1, 4-1, 1-4, 9-7, 7-0 in the semi-finals.
The battle for the Mallakhambhu men’s all-around gold featuring Mumbai’s Akshay Taral of Maharashtra and Pune’s Shubhankar brought fans to the edge of their seats at Sanskardham late on Sunday. The two contestants were separated by just 0.15 points, while Chandrashekhar Chauhan (Madhya Pradesh) trailed by another 0.35 points.
Results (final):
Canoeing and kayaking
Men
K4 1000m Sprint: 1. Ajatasatru Sharma, S Albert Raj, Bhumjit Singh and Gyanjit Arambam (Services) 1:34.495; 2. Vishal Dangi, Akshit Baroi, Himanshu Tandon and Rimson Mairembam (Madhya Pradesh) 1:36.422; 3. Harsh Kumar, Mahendra Singh, Kunal and Ningthoujam Nivash Singh (Telangana) 1:389.168.
Women
C2 500m Sprint: 1. Meghna Pradeep and Akshaya Sunil (Kerala) 2:16.816; 2. Kaveri Dimar and Shivani Verma (Madhya Pradesh) 2:16.896; 2. Rashmita Sahoo and Sachima Kerketta (Odisha) 2:33.506.
K1 500m Sprint: 1. Rajina Kiro (Andaman & Nicobar) 2:08.652; 2. Kaushal Nandini Thakur (Chhattisgarh) 2:09.186; 3. Pooja (Haryana) 2:12.926.
K2 500m Sprint: 1. Fulmani Xaxa and Oinam Bindya Devi (Odisha) 2:07.443; 2. Jyoti and Pooja (Haryana) 2:09.446; 3. Rajina Kiro and Sandhya Kispota (Andaman & Nicobar) 2:10.806.
K4 500m Sprint: 1. Aleena Biju, Sreelakshmi Jayaprakash, Treesa Jacob and G Parvathi (Kerala) 1:56.259; 2. Dipali, Suahma Verma, Dimita Devi and Swati Sahu (Madhya Pradesh) 1:57.859; 3. Fulmani Xaxa, Oinam Bidya Devi, Pukharambam Roji Devi and Shruti Choughule (Odisha) 1:58.932.
Football:
Women’s bronze play-off: Tamil Nadu beat Assam 5-1 (half-time: 3-1).
Mallakhambh
Men’s Individual All-Around (Sunday Result): 1. Akshay Prakash Taral (Maharashtra) 26.85 points; 2. Shubhankar Vinay Khawale (Maharashtra) 26.70; 3. Chandrashekhar Chauhan (Madhya Pradesh) 26.35.
Women’s team: 1. Maharashtra 88.75 points; 2, Madhya Pradesh 83.10; 3. Chhattisgarh 80.10.
Women’s Individual All-Around: 1. Rupali Sunil Gangawane (Maharashtra) 17.80 points; 2. Janhavi Suresh Jadhav (Maharashtra) 17.30; 3. Sidhi Gupta (Madhya Pradesh) 17.20.
Other results
Hockey
Men’s semi-final: Uttar Pradesh beat Maharashtra 3-3 (0-2 at half time) 3-2 in penalty shoot-out.
Tennis
Men’s Singles (Semifinals): Jay Meena (Madhya Pradesh) beat Rohit Dhiman (Chandigarh) 5-3, 4-1, 4-2, 4-1; Jitender Mehta (Delhi) defeated Aniket Chirag Patel (Gujarat) 4-2, 4-2, 2-4, 4-2, 4-0.
Women’s Singles (Final): Rahasri Manogar Babu (Tamil Nadu) beat Aadhya Tiwari (Madhya Pradesh) 4-2, 4-2, 4-1, 4-0. Bronze Medals: Nikita Bishnoi (Haryana) and Hetvee Chaudhari (Gujarat).
