– A total of six medals, including three golds; Khade couple golden success*
Panaji :- Maharashtra swimmers made an impression by winning a total of six medals on the sixth day of the 37th National Games on Tuesday. The golden success of Veerdhawal and Rujuta Khade became a feature. The swimmers won three gold, one silver and two silver medals. So far, it has secured the top spot in the medal table with a total of 123 medals including 52 gold, 35 silver and 36 bronze medals.
Haryana is second with 36 medals (19 gold, 10 silver, 7 bronze) and Senadal is third with 51 medals (18 gold, 17 silver, 16 bronze).
Maharashtra women’s tennis team defeated Tamil Nadu to reach the final, while the women’s hockey team beat hosts Goa 2-1 to start their campaign on a winning note. In football, Maharashtra grabbed everyone’s attention by holding defending champions Kerala to a 2-2 draw.
Also, the men and women teams of Maharashtra have a chance to win bronze medals in the archery Indian round category of the national sports competition. In sailing, the medals were decided on Wednesday as Maharashtra athletes reached the finals in three groups.
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*Aquatics*
*Khade Couples still the show in swimming*
*Maharashtra’s register golden hat-trick in swimming*
*A total of six medals earned*
Maharashtra’s Olympian Veerdhawal Khade and his wife Rijuta did a remarkable job winning the title of fastest swimmer in the men’s and women’s categories respectively. Mihir Ambre bagged another medal in the 50m freestyle event with a bronze medal. Maharashtra’s Palak Joshi overcame illness to win the gold medal in the 200m backstroke while Rishabh Das bagged the silver medal in the event.Similarly, Tushar Geeta won bronze medal in platform diving. Maharashtra bagged a total of six medals in swimming at the National Games on Tuesday, including three gold, one silver and two silver.
Virdhawal won the gold medal in the 50 meters freestyle race in a record time of 22.82 seconds. He broke his own event record of 23 seconds in 2015 here. His colleague Mihir recorded a time of 22.99 seconds while winning the bronze medal in the same race.
Veerdhawal’s race was followed by his wife Rijuta who clocked 22.42 seconds in the 50m freestyle to claim the title of fastest swimmer. In winning the event, she broke the event record of 26.53 seconds set by Avantika Chavan in Rajkot last year.
Rishabh Das won the silver medal in the 200 meters backstroke race. He covered this distance in two minutes 4.80 seconds.
*Palak’s golden performance overcoming illness*
The success achieved by Palak Joshi of Maharashtra is very commendable. She won the gold medal in the 200m backstroke race in two minutes and 22.12 seconds. Today, she reached the final round with the eighth rank from the preliminary round. But with the strength of her stubbornness, she took the lead in the last 100 meters and pulled off a golden success.Two days ago, she had to be treated in the hospital due to food poisoning. This morning she took part in the qualifying round and secured her place in the final with an eighth place finish.
*Bronze Medal to Tushar Geetha in Platform Diving*
Tushar Geeta, representing Maharashtra, gave a grand opening to the National Games by winning a bronze medal in platform diving. This is his first medal in this competition. He scored 249.90 marks. He is a player from Mumbai and has performed brilliantly in many competitions for the Railway team till date.
*Maharashtra wins in both groups of water polo*
Teams from Maharashtra maintained their lead in water polo with one sided victories in both men’s and women’s categories. In the men’s group, Maharashtra defeated Manipur 28-3. This was Maharashtra’s first match. In the women’s group, Maharashtra defeated Assam 25-1. This is Maharashtra’s second win in a row. Yesterday he had blown away the Manipur team.
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*Hockey*
*Maharashtra women’s hockey team gets off to a winning start*
*Beat Goa 2-1; Akshata, Priyanka each goal*
Maharashtra women’s hockey team led by Akshata Dhekle beat hosts Goa 2-1 to start their National Games campaign with a win.
Priyanka Wankhede opened Maharashtra’s account by scoring a field goal in the seventh minute of the Group B match at the Peddim Sports Complex in Mapusa. Just two minutes later, Akshat converted a penalty corner to increase Maharashtra’s lead to 2-0. Both teams failed to score in the second session. But Manita scored Goa’s first in the 31st minute in the third session. After that, Goa’s attempts to equalize in the fourth session were thwarted by Maharashtra’s defence.So this victory was achieved. Maharashtra’s next match will be against Jharkhand on Thursday.
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*Roll ball*
*Victory Salute of Maharashtra Women’s Team*
*Chance to reach semi-finals today*
Maharashtra women’s Roll ball team under the skillful leadership of young captain Shweta Kadam opened the 37th national sports Games with a magnificent victory on Tuesday.
The Maharashtra team celebrated a resounding victory over the Uttar Pradesh team with a margin of 6-4. The best performance of Mansi Patil, Mahek and Shweta Kadam helped the Maharashtra team register a big win. Chief coach Amit Patil had planned a special strategy for victory.
The Maharashtra team started the match well in the first session of the morning. Due to this, the Uttar Pradesh team’s attempts to lead failed time and again. Meanwhile, Maharashtra’s goalkeeper Mansi Patil’s performance was remarkable. She thwarted the lead attempt of the Uttar Pradesh team.
Captain Shweta Kadam expressed the joy of the victory in these words, “The strong victory in the competition has boosted the confidence of the Maharashtra team. Now we will continue this campaign and reach the milestone of golden success. All the players are ready for this.”
“Maharashtra Women’s second match of the games will be played against Rajasthan on Tuesday evening. With a win against this strong team, Maharashtra will have a great chance to secure their entry into the relegation round. For this, Maharashtra will have to put in a quality performance. This will definitely help Maharashtra to reach the semi-finals,” Chief coach Amit Patil expressed this belief.
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*Football*
*Maharashtra hold strongest Kerala to a draw*
Maharashtra grabbed all the attention by holding the defending runners-up Kerala to a 2-2 draw in football in the national sports tournament.
Kerala’s Mohammed Ashiq scored the first goal in the 23rd minute of the Group B match, while Nijo scored the second goal in the 42nd minute through a penalty.So Kerala took a 2-0 lead at the end of the first session. There were signs that Kerala would win the match comfortably as they remained scoreless for about 32 minutes in the second session as well. But this was rejected by Maharashtra. In the 82nd minute, Mandeep opened the scoring for Maharashtra. Then five minutes later (87th minute) Yash Shukla scored a spectacular goal with a header to bring Maharashtra level. In the next game, Kerala played a rough game and tried hard to break the deadlock. But Maharashtra also put up an amazing resistance.
In this match, Maharashtra’s goalkeeper Parambir was admitted to the hospital due to an injury in the first session. In his place, Kamran took charge of the goalkeeping.
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*Archery*
*Both Maharashtra teams have chance of bronze medal*
*Men’s team win over Bihar, women’s team win over Jharkhand*
Maharashtra’s men’s and women’s teams are in the running for bronze medals in the Indian round of archery at the National Games. The men’s team will face Haryana and the women’s team will face Gujarat on November 4.
The Maharashtra men’s team beat Bihar 6-0 in the ongoing tournament at the Goa College of Engineering ground in Ponda. The men’s team consists of Roshan Salunkhe, Shubham Nage, Rishikesh Chandurkar, Sumit Gurumule.
Maharashtra women team beat Jharkhand team by 6-2. The women’s team consists of Sakshi Sonavane, Natasha Dumane, Shreya Khandar, Bhavana Sattagiri. Maharashtra’s challenge came to an end as they lost to Manipur in the mixed group.
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*Tennis*
*Maharashtra women’s team in final*
Maharashtra women’s tennis team reached the final of the 37th national sports Games on Tuesday with a 2-0 win over Tamil Nadu. Now Maharashtra’s final match for the gold medal will be played against Gujarat on Wednesday.
In the first match, Maharashtra’s Vaishnavi Adkar defeated Tamil Nadu’s Lakshmi Prabha 6-3, 6-3. Then in the second match, Maharashtra’s international tennis player Rutuja Bhosale defeated Tamil Nadu’s Saisamita 6-2, 6-1 in straight sets.
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*Rowing*
*Maharashtra’s three medals confirmed in Rowing*
The medals were decided on Wednesday as Maharashtra’s athletes reached the finals in three groups in Rowing at the 37th National Games.Maharashtra’s Olympian Dattu Bhokanal has made it to the finals in the men’s single scull category. He is challenged by Ashish Phogat (Uttarakhand), Karamjit Singh (Punjab) and Balraj Panwar (Army).
Mitesh Gill and Ajay Tyagi have already reached the finals in doubles. They will be challenged by Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Army players. In the Cox Four division, Maharashtra will have to fight hard against Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Senadal to win a medal.
