Former world No. 1 archer Deepika Kumari stole the show at the National Games 2023 with two gold medals and a silver, while Olympian Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar demonstrated his dominance in the 50m Rifle 3-position shooting event on Monday in Goa.
As the archery competitions drew to a close, table leaders Maharashtra, Haryana, and Assam shared the other gold medals in the recurve category.
With three days remaining in the Games, Maharashtra is on top of the medal tally with 68 gold medals, followed by Services and Haryana with 54 and 50 gold medals, respectively.
Kumari started her medal run with a gold in the women’s solo event before teaming up with Mrinal Chauhan to earn gold in the mixed team division. She also helped Jharkhand earn silver in the team event, which they lost in a shootout against Haryana.
Tomar won gold in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions event, narrowly defeating Niraj Kumar of Services. Chain Singh of Services, who had led the qualification, took bronze.
Vijayveer Sidhu of Punjab won gold in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event, while Anish Bhanwala and Adarsh Singh of Haryana won silver and bronze, respectively.
In the Judo competitions, Delhi received three of the eight gold medals available, while Manipur received two. The other three gold medals were won by Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Punjab.
Earlier in the day, Punjab and Odisha shared the gold medal in the coastal beach sprint mixed team event, while Madhya Pradesh won the women’s kayak quadruples.
Suman Devi of Haryana won gold in the coastal beach sprint women’s event, beating out Beeda Hemalatha of Telangana and Nikita Darekar of Maharashtra. In the men’s division, Services’ Salman Khan won gold ahead of Olympian rower Dattu Bhokanal of Maharashtra, while Odisha’s Sourbh Kumar took bronze.
Meanwhile, in the first semi-final of the football competition, Services defeated Kerala 4-2 to seal their place in the finals. They will now compete against Manipur.
Featured Image: OnManorama