Sagar Bhargava piped state-mate and Paris 2024 Olympics quota winner Sarabjot Singh in a shoot-off, to win the first gold medal in Shooting, at the on-going 37th National Games being held at the Mandrem Shooting Range. Sagar, competing in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol for Haryana, held his nerve to shoot a 10.2 in his shoot-off shot, as the India international settled for silver with a weak 9.3. The two Haryanvis were tied at 238.8 at the end of the 24-shot final. Subhash Sihag of the Services won bronze with 217.3.
Earlier Punjab’s Arjun Singh Cheema had topped the 37-strong qualification field of 60-shots, with a score of 583. Sarabjot and Subhash were second and third with 580 each while Sagar had taken the sixth qualifying spot with a score of 575.
Maharashtra continued to stay on the top of the medal table with a total of 162 medals including 60 golds, 49 silver and 53 bronze. Services Sports Control Board is catching up with the leaders, taking their gold medal tally to 40 after some strong performances in combat sports. Haryana remains in third position with a total of 91 medals including 32 golds, 24 silvers and 35 bronze.
Hosts Goa won their third gold medal of the games, as the Women’s Quad Team in Sepak Takraw beat Haryana in the finals. They have confirmed four more medals in the sport as they have qualified for the finals in four more categories of which the finals will take place later in the day.
At the Goa Engineering College, Farmagudi Olympian Deepika Kumari qualified for the final of the Women’s Recurve event after beating Haryana’s Tamanna 6-4 in the semis. She will face Sangeeta of Haryana who won her semi-final match 6-2 against Gujarat’s Bhagora Vargishkumar.
In the men’s category giant killer Mukesh Boro who had beaten Olympian Atanu Das in the second round qualified for the finals beating SSCB’s Gora Ho in the shoot off. He will face Uttarakhand’s Kartik Rana who also created an upset in the first round beating Olympian Jayanta Talukdar. Kartik comprehensively beat Bhagwat Singh of Chhattisgarh 7-1 in the semis to book his place in the finals.
