Maharashtra's all-round show keeps them on top; Assam swimmer Shivangi wins 4th gold

Assam's Shivangi Sarma grabbed her fourth swimming gold even as Maharashtra's all-round show across disciplines consolidated their position at the top of medals tally at the Khelo India Youth Games here on Sunday.

Shivangi bagged her fourth gold from the swimming pool, winning the women's under-21 100m freestyle crown in 59.26 seconds on day rain and thunder left the city drenched.

Maharashtra finished the day with a whopping 60 gold in their 193-medal haul.

Mihir Ambre, Rudranish Mishra and Aaron Fernandes helped Maharashtra make light of the five-second lead that India's best backstroke swimmer Srihari Nataraj opened up for Karnataka to win the 4x100m medley relay by 0.24 seconds.

This dramatic win saw them finish the day with nine gold at the Dr Zakir Hussain Aquatics Complex and inch close to Karnataka's 10 from the pool.

Maharashtra's spoils got richer as the two under-17 Kho-kho teams, two wrestlers and three weightlifters added to their gold collection on Sunday. Haryana managed just three gold from their wrestlers and watched their rivals enhance their lead at the top of the medals table.

Delhi's swimmers too enjoyed a good day, winning three gold to help them consolidate their position in the third place with 30 gold ahead of Uttar Pradesh's 23. With just one gold from 400m freestyle swimmer Aneesh S Gowda, Karnataka were unable to draw any closer to Uttar Pradesh.

Maharashtra's delight at the Bhogeswari Phukanani Indoor Stadium knew no bounds as Abhishek Nipane, a bronze medal winner in the under-21 73kg class in Pune last year, and Kiran Marathe, silver medallist a year ago, both improved on their performances to give the state's weightlifting gold to eight out of the 18 contested so far.

Tamil Nadu's girls under-17 weightlifters claimed two gold through Y Poorna Sri (64kg class) and M Lekhamaalya (71kg class). These medals saw Tamil Nadu rise to the sixth place with 13 gold and 25 silver in a total of 53 medals.

Assam are seventh on the medals tally with 13 gold and as many silver medals in a total of 40, leapfrogging several states like Gujarat, Kerala and Punjab in the matter of a day. As many as 13 states have touched double-digit figures in terms of gold medals won while 29 of the 36 teams taking part have won at least a medal each.

Assam claimed two of the four lawn bowls gold medals late on Saturday evening. Sanzio Pandey and Abhilakh Handique, who formed the home state's combination in the boys under-21 Pair event, and Suman Kumari Pandey and Suranjana Baruah, part of the girls under-21 Four squad, finished with two gold each.

Delhi girls Rajasvi Panver stunned Assam's Adinita Kakati 21-19 in the girls under-21 singles final with a telling show of precision play. The Jharkhand boys under-21 Triple squad claimed the other gold with a hard-fought win against Delhi.

The closing ceremony of the third edition of the Khelo India Youth Games will be held at the Sarusajai Sports Complex here on Wednesday in the presence of Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.