Karnataka makes a splash in pool, Punjab lifter Mehak smashes 3 NR
Dehradun: Four national records tumbled in the weightlifting arena while Karnataka swimmers Srihari Nataraj and Dhinidhi Desinghu matched one other in their fierce rivalry as the southern state picked up five gold medals from the pool to leapfrog to the top of the medal tally in the National Games on Monday.
Punjab’s Mehak Sharma broke three national records -- snatch, clean and jerk, and total lift -- en route winning gold in women’s 87+ kg category, while Tamil Nadu’s S Rudramayan bettered the national mark in snatch in men’s 109+kg on the final day of weightlifting competitions.
With five gold medals from the pool, Karnataka leapfrogged Services to return to the top spot with 42 medals (22 gold, 10 silver, 10 bronze).
Services are at second spot with 38 medals (19 gold, 10 silver, 9 bronze), followed by Maharashtra (15 gold, 26 silver, 20 bronze) and Manipur (11 gold, 10 silver, 5 bronze).
Meanwhile, 15-year-old Bengaluru shooter Jonathan Antony delivered a grand performance on the biggest domestic stage when he outwitted Paris Olympics bronze medallist Sarabjot Singh and the more fancied Saurabh Chaudhary to clinch the 10m air pistol gold. Jonathan shot a superb 240.7 for Karnataka in the final to overcame the challenge of Services veterans Ravinder Singh (silver, 240.3) and Gurpreet Singh (bronze, 220.1) and Sarabjot Singh
Punjab’s Sift Kaur Samra secured gold in the women’s 50m rifle 3-positions event after shooting a superb 461.2 to overcome the challenge of state-mate
Olympian Anjum Moudgil, who shot a 458.7. agencies