Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

National Games: Services tops medal tally

Last updated on: February 14, 2025 00:06 IST

 Karnatalka

IMAGE: Karnataka hockey players celebrate a goal. Photograph: Hockey India/X

Services continued its dominance in the National Games as it topped the medal tally at the 38th edition in Uttarakhand, achieving the feat for the fifth time in the last six Games, after a rather low key final day of competitions Dehradun on Thursday.

Services bagged nine more medals on Thursday, including three gold, for a Games total haul of 121 (68 gold, 26 silver, 27 bronze). It had finished second behind Maharashtra in the 2023 edition in Goa.

Before that, it had topped the medal tally in four successive National Games (2007, 2011, 2015 and 2022).

 

Maharashtra won more medals than Services with 198 (54 gold, 71 silver, 73 bronze) but the lesser number of gold meant that it ended at second spot.

Even Haryana got more medals than Services with 153 (48 gold, 47 silver, 58 bronze) but had to be content with a third-place finish.

Karnataka (34 gold, 18 silver, 28 bronze) and Madhya Pradesh (33 gold, 26 silver, 23 bronze) finished at fourth and fifth positions respectively.

Tamil Nadu (27 gold, 30 silver, 34 bronze), Uttarakhand (24 gold, 35 silver, 43 bronze), West Bengal (16 gold, 13 silver, 18 bronze), Punjab (15 gold, 20 silver, 31 bronze) and Delhi (15 gold, 18 silver, 29 bronze) rounded off the top-10.

Curtains will be brought down on the 38th edition of the National Games, which began on January 28, with the closing ceremony to be held in Haldwani on Friday with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in attendance.

In hockey competitions in Haridwar, Haryana took revenge of their defeat in last edition as they beat Madhya Pradesh 4-1 in the final to win the women's gold medal.

Jharkhand defeated Maharashtra 2-1 to bag the bronze medal.

In the 2023 National Games in Goa, MP had beaten Haryana 3-0 in shootout after the two sides were locked goal-less in the regulation time.

In the men's event, Karnataka registered a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Uttar Pradesh to win the gold. Maharashtra beat Punjab 1-0 to clinch the bronze medal.

West Bengal and Haryana shared the honours on the final day of gymnastics with two gold each in Dehradun.

Maharashtra, however, topped the gymnastics medal tally with 24 medals, including 12 gold in the competition held over six days. West Bengal was second with 12 medals, including 5 gold.

Haryana's Yogeshwar Singh won two gold medals by winning the men's artistic vaulting table event and horizontal bar. He scored 13.500 points for the vaulting table event gold while he grabbed 12.367 points in the horizontal bar.

West Bengal's Ritu Das clinched the gold medal in the women's artistic gymnastics balance beam event with 11.367 points, while team-mate Pranati Das took the top prize in the women's floor exercise event.

Odisha's Tokyo Olympian Pranati Nayak settled for a bronze medal in the balance beam event.

Maharashtra's Parina Rahul Madanpotra secured the gold medal in the rhythmic gymnastics clubs event with a score of 25.60. In the rhythmic gymnastics ribbon event, Muskan Rana of Jammu and Kashmir and Samyukta Prasen Kale of Maharashtra shared the gold medal, both scoring 25.550 points.

In the parallel bars event, Odisha's Rakesh Kumar Patra emerged triumphant, scoring 12.600 points.

Maharashtra's Swastika Ghosh lost in the women's table tennis final 

IMAGE: Maharashtra's Swastika Ghosh lost in the women's table tennis final. Photograph: Maharashtra Olympic Association/X

In table tennis, Maharashtra's Jaish Amit Modi registered an upset win (7-11, 6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 14-12, 6-11, 11-6) over Commonwealth Games medallist Sathiyan Gnanasekaran of Tamil Nadu to clinch the men's singles gold medal.

In the women's singles final, Selena Deepthi Selvakumar of Tamil Nadu emerged victorious, edging out Swastika Ghosh of Maharashtra 11-7, 11-2, 6-11, 7-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-9 to claim the gold medal.

In mixed doubles, West Bengal's Anirban Ghosh and Ayhika Mukherjee stunned Maharashtra's Chinmaya Somaiya and Reeth Rishya Tennison 10-12 6-11 11-7 11-8 11-2 to claim the title.

On the final day of the kayaking and canoeing sprint events held at Tehri Lake, Odisha team comprising Shruti Chougule, Oinam Bidya Devi, Oinam Binita Chanu and Khwairakpam Dhanamanjuri Devi claimed the gold with a time of 01:46.95s.

Uttarakhand's Fairenban Sonia Devi won gold in women's K-1 500m event with a time 02:06.935s, while the men's K-4 500m gold went to the Services team of Sunny Kumar, Varinder Singh, Goli Ramesh and Ajit Singh who completed the race in 01:28.320s.

In skeet mixed team shooting event, Haryana's Shaan Singh Libra and Raiza Dhillon beat Punjab's Ganemat Sekhon and Bhavtegh Singh Gill 41-39 to win the gold.

Meanwhile, Haryana secured a 39-33 victory over Uttarakhand in the netball mixed event to claim the gold.

© Copyright 2025 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.