India consolidate dominance

Feb 05, 2010

Dhaka, Feb. 5: Shooters and swimmers hogged the limelight by sharing the spoils as India clinched eight out of 10 gold medals at stake on Friday to consolidate their dominance at the top with 67 medals in the 11th South Asian Games.

India also bagged three silver and one bronze on the eighth day of the event to aggregate 40 gold, 17 silver and 10 bronze medals so far.

Pakistan remained on second spot with 31 medals (six gold, 16 silver, nine bronze). Bangladesh are third with five gold, 10 silver and 19 bronze medals.

In a late match, India lost to Afghanistan in basketball final at the indoor complex at Dhanmondi to settle for silver. Incidentally, this was the first gold for Afghanistan. Bangladesh bagged the bronze.

The shooters continued their golden run sweeping all the four gold medals at stake today to assert their supremacy. They also bagged two silver medals.

In hockey, India were held by Bangladesh 3-3 in their final round-robin match but they finished on top to set up a summit clash against Pakistan.

India came back strongly with three goals to lead 3-2 by the 67th minute. Senior pro V. Raghunath converted a penalty corner in the 52nd minute before Mohammad Aamir Khan restored parity in the 59th minute. In the 67th minute, Dharamvir Singh gave India the lead.

However, their joy was short lived as two minutes later Bangladesh scored through Mostafa to hold the Indians.

Pugilists began their campaign on a high when Amandeep Singh (lighweight) and Suranjoy Singh (flyweight) ensured medals by reaching semifinals.

The men’s footballers, however, crashed out in the semifinals, losing 1-0 to hosts Bangladesh.

Led by Pune FC striker Jeje Lalpekhula, the men’s football team had a miserable outing against Bangladesh who scored through Tawhidul Alam in 85th minute to enter the final.

Army shooter Om Prakash was the star Indian performer at the National Shooting Complex range at Gulshan, bagging four gold medals in the 10m air pistol event, adding to his gold in 50m air pistol on Thursday.

— PTI

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