PANCHKULA: For a second consecutive day at the ongoing Khelo India Youth Games, Haryana wrestlers reigned supreme, collecting four more gold medals to help the home team knock defending champions Maharashtra off the top of the medal tally here on Monday.
Barring the 65kg Greco Roman final, in which Chandigarh boy Yashveer Malik emerged victorious, the Haryana grapplers seemed invincible on the day as they raised their medal count to 45 (16 gold, 11 silver, 18 bronze). This included a couple of crucial gold medals in weightlifting and one each in shooting, yoga, cycling and gatka. Haryana had earlier won five gold in wrestling on Sunday.
Overnight table toppers Maharashtra, however, failed to keep the momentum going but managed to cling on to the second spot with 31 medals (11 gold, 10 silver and 10 bronze). Manipur, who collected six gold in thang-ta over two days, were third after picking an additional gold in cycling. The North East side's medal count is now 14, inclusive of 10 gold, 3 silver and a bronze.
With 13 medals, inclusive of 5 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze, Punjab are at fourth while Chandigarh completes the top five with 3 golds, 2 silver and 2 bronze for a total of 7 medals.
But it was the Haryana grapplers who once again stole the show on the mat. Suraj started the gold rush by defeating Maharashtra's Vishwajit More by technical superiority in the Greco Roman 55 kg category, before Ravinder managed to earn a hard-fought 11-8 win over Maharashtra's Ajay Kapade for another gold.
Narender added a third gold after getting the better of fellow Haryanvi Amit in the freestyle 71 kg final. Chandigarh boy Yashveer ended the home juggernaut with a 6-2 win over local boy Nishant in the 65 kg GR final.
Savita won the gold in the Girls' 61 kg category for Haryana.
In weightlifting, Bengai Tani opened Arunachal Pradesh's gold medal count with a total lift of 264 kg in the Boys' 67 kg weight category. Tamil Nadu's T Madhavan (Boys 61 kg) and Haryana's Usha (Girls 55kg) were among the podium toppers in their respective weight categories. Haryana also finished 1-2 in the 10m Air Pistol event at the Karni Singh Shooting Range in Delhi, with Shiva Narwal bagging the gold.
