South Asian Games 2019: Indian paddlers bag gold, silver in men’s, women’s doubles

While Harmeet Desai and Anthony Amalraj won gold in the men’s doubles final, Madhurika Patkar and Sreeja Akula clinched the top honours in the women's event.

FILE PHOTO: Harmeet Desai and Anthony Amalraj defeated compatriots Sanil Shetty and Sudhanshu Grover in the men’s doubles final to win the gold.

Track and field athletes led the gold rush on the third day of competitions in the 13th South Asian Games as India added a whopping 29 medals to jump to the top of the medals tally here on Wednesday.

India won 15 gold medals with athletics contributing five of them as the country’s medal tally stood at 32 gold, 26 silver and 13 bronze for a total of 71.

Nepal's a close second with a haul of 29 gold, 15 silver and 25 bronze for a total of 69 medals.

Athletics gave 10 medals (5 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze) while six each from came from table tennis (3 gold and 3 silver) and taekwondo (3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze), five from triathlon (2 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze) and two -- all gold -- from kho kho.

Indian paddlers bagged the gold and silver medals in both the men’s and women’s doubles events of the 13th South Asian Games on Wednesday.

In an all Indian affair, Harmeet Desai and Anthony Amalraj defeated compatriots Sanil Shetty and Sudhanshu Grover in the men’s doubles final to win the gold.

The duo of Harmeet and Amalraj defeated compatriots Sanil and Sudhanshu 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-5, 8-11, 12-10, in the title clash.

Nepal’s Santoo Shrestha and Vinesh Khaniya secured the bronze medal as did the Sri Lankan pair of Chambers Ginige and Rashmika Krishnanand.

READ: South Asian Games 2019: Indian shuttlers assure eight medals

In the women’s doubles final, Madhurika Patkar and Sreeja Akula beat Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee 2-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6, 5-11, 11-5, to clinch the top honours.

The bronze medals went to the Sri Lankan duo of Vishaka Madhurangi and Hansini Puilima and the pairing of Sonam Soma and Sadi Raman Mou of Bangladesh.

In mixed doubles event, Harmeet combined with Sutirtha Mukherjee to down Amalraj and Ayhika 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8, to win the gold.
 

In other sports...
 

Gold for Kho Kho teams

The Indian men and women’s kho kho teams claimed gold medals after defeating Bangladesh and Nepal, respectively at the Games.

Six medals in Taekwondo

India dominated the taekwondo events by clinching six medals, including three gold.

Laitika Bhandari (under 53kg), Jarnel Singh (under 74kg) and Rudali Barua (over 73kg) won a gold each on day three of competitions.

Saurav and Gangjot clinched a silver medal each in the men’s under 63kg and women’s 62kg events, respectively, while Chaitnya Inamdar bagged a bronze in the men’s over 86kg category.