South Asian Games: India rule roost with 8 medals

India added four gold, two silver and two bronze to their swelling medal kitty to rule the roost at the end of day five in the 11th South Asian Games in Dhaka on Tuesday.

India now have 15 gold, three silver and seven bronze medals. Pakistan are second with six gold, 11 silver and four bronze while Sri Lanka have so far won 17 medals (three gold, nine silver and five bronze) to occupy third spot.

Shooters began their campaign on a positive note by winning two gold, one silver and two bronze while weightlifters claimed both the yellow metals on offer on the final day of the event.

Cyclists too signed off with a silver with Rajendra Bishnoi finishing second in men's 170km road race mass start.

Sandeep Kumar and Srinivasa Rao Mallisetty won gold in men's 105kg and +105 kg weightlifting while the other two yellow metals came from shooting -- Vivek Singh (25m standard pistol individual event) and the men's 25m standard pistol team event.

The men's 25m standard pistol team comprised Vivek, Chandrashekhar Kumar Chaudhary and Harpreet Singh.

Chaudhary also clinched an individual bronze medal in the same event while in the women's section, 13-year-old Mampi Das battled fever to clinch a bronze in the 10m individual air rifle.

The women's team comprising Mampi, Tejaswini Muley and Shruti Bhatepatil bagged silver in the 10m air rifle. In 105 kg category, Mallisetty and Sajjad Amin Malik of Pakistan had a tie for the top spot as both lifted 327kg (150+177) each. But the Indian edged out the Pakistani for the gold medal on the basis of his lesser body weight.

Lankan Thusitha Srimal Abeykoon had to settle for the bronze with a total lift of 279kg (120+159).

Indian lifters returned home with three gold, one silver and one bronze.

On the last day of cycling event, India's Rajendra Bishnoi was pipped to the post by Janaka Hemanth Gonagalage of Sri Lanka in men's 170-km road race mass start.

Bishnoi had to settle for a silver in a photo finish at the race held between Bangladesh Krida Shiksha Pratisthan (BKSP) at Khulna and Gopalganj. Nisar Ahmed of Pakistan settled for the bronze medal.

All the three cyclists made the distance in four hour, 48 minutes and 34 seconds as the gold, silver and bronze medals were determined by fraction of a second.

Bishnoi earlier had a team gold to his credit when he along with Amandeep Singh, Harpreet Singh and Sabu Ganager had come first in the 80-km road team time trial on January 31.

The Indian cyclists returned home with three gold, one silver and one bronze medal.

India also made a winning start in the squash team event after thrashing hosts Bangladesh 3-0 in their round robin opener at the Dhaka Club courts.

Vikas Jangra gave India a 1-0 lead with a 11-0, 11-0, 11-7 win over Shaheed. Ravi Dixit beat Rajan 11-7, 11-4, 11-7, while Sandeep Jangra defeated Shopon 11-2, 11-5, 11-5 to clinch the issue. At National Shooting Complex at Gulshan, shooters began their campaign bagging two gold, one silver and two bronze.

Vivek clinched the top honours scoring 570 points, Mustkim Shah of Pakistan settled for silver with 556, while Chaudhary bagged the bronze with 555.

The men's trio of Vivek, Chandrasekhar Kumar Chaudhary and Harpreet Singh earned the second shooting gold logging 1675 points in the 25m standard pistol team event.

Pakistan bagged the silver with 1641 points while Sri Lanka had to settle for bronze with 1586 points.

In the women's individual 10m individual air rifle event, Mampi shot 496.6 out of 500 for the bronze medal.

Bangladesh reigned supreme with one-two finish in women's 10m air rifle individual event with Sharmin Ranta (499.4) and Syeda Sultana (498.3) bagging gold and silver respectively.

Battling fever, Mampi helped her team, which also had Shruti and Tejaswini, win the silver medal with 1175 points.

Bangladeshi trio of Sharmin, Syeda and Tripti took the gold with 1191 points, while Pakistanis Nazis Khan, Nosheen Khan and Nasheda Naqvi had to settle for bronze with 1147.

Lifters ended their campaign in style as they had the best day so far claiming both the gold medals on offer.

Sandeep was no match for his Sri Lankan rival Manjula Sampath Aberathne as the Indian lifted 335kg (145 snatch + 190 in clean and jerk) to win gold in men's +105 kg category.

The Lankan managed 298kg (133+165) to win silver while Feroz Mahmud of Bangladesh lifted 274 (119+155) for bronze. In men's football, India rode on a three goal effort from Lalpekhula Jeje to thrash arch-rivals Pakistan 5-1 and make it to the semifinal.

Lalrindika Ralte and Tirthankar Sarkar scored a goal each to complete the scoreline at M A Aziz Stadium in Chittagong. Pakistan reduced the margin through Rizwan.

Indian shuttlers asserted their supremacy as their top players advanced to the semi-finals.

In men's singles, top seed Chetan Anand got the better of Mohammad Rais Uddin of Bangladesh 21-19, 21-10 to set up a last-four clash with Dinuka Karunaratne of Sri Lanka.

Second seeded RMV Guru Sai Dutt beat Sri Lanka's Niluka Karunaratne 21-12, 21-13.

In the women's singles, top seeded Sayali Gokhale beat Achini Ratnasiri or Sri Lanka 21-13, 23-21 while Trupti Murgunde, seeded second, defeated Sara Devi Tamang of Nepal 21-7, 21-15 to enter semi-finals.

In the women's doubles, top seeded duo of Aparna Balan and Shruti Kurien thrashed Pooja Shrestha and Sara Devi Tamangof Nepal 21-8, 21-8.

India will take on Maldives in volleyball semi-final tomorrow. In other semifinal, Sri Lanka will take on Pakistan.

Pakistan beat Maldives 25-20, 25-18, 25-20 to top their group while Maldives finished second to set up a semifinal clash with India.

In basketball, India lost to Afghanistan 74-77. In women's kabaddi, India beat Bangladesh 35-20.