KITG: Chhattisgarh bag women’s football gold

Raipur: Aided by the individual brilliance of their captain Kiran Pisda, Chhattisgarh women’s football team continued their solid run in the inaugural Khelo India Tribal Games, defeating Jharkhand 1-0 in the final on their way to securing a gold medal.

The hosts also added the men’s 4x400m relay silver and men’s 1500m bronze to their overall tally on the penultimate day of track & field competitions in Jagdalpur.

Further, Jharkhand’s Shiv Kumar Soren completed a grand double by adding the 200m gold to his 100m triumph.

The Chhattisgarh women’s team made the most of the solitary chance they got against the aggressive Jharkhand outfit when their captain pounced on a defensive lapse to score in the 61st minute and then the host team held on to the advantage to clinch the title.

“It’s a special moment for us because this is the first time so many fans came to support us and I am very happy that we could win the gold medal in front of our home crowd,” said an elated Kiran, the only international player in the home squad.

In Jagdalpur, the last day of athletics competitions saw Soren and Karnataka’s Reethushree and Nagini claiming their second gold medal on the track at Kreeda Parisar complex.

Soren clinched the 200m gold with a time of 21.51s.