South Asian Games: India Win 11 Out of 12 Medals in Athletics
India continued their dominance in the South Asian Games as the men and women won gold medals in athletics, winning 11 out of 12 medals.
India ruled the roost on track and field by winning 11 gold medals out of 12 on offer with javelin thrower Suman Devi coming up with the best show on the third and penultimate day of athletics competition in the 12th South Asian Games. (South Asian Games: India Achieve Gold Medal Sweep In Tennis)
Suman Devi (women's javelin), Renjith Maheswary (men's triple jump), Om Prakash Karhana (men's shot put), PU Chitra (women's 1500m), Ajay Kumar Saroj (men's 1500m), Jauna Murmu (women's 400m hurdles), Dharun Ayyasamy (men's 400m hurdles), L Surya (women's 10,000m), Srabani Nanda (women's 200m) and men's and women's 4x400 relay teams won gold for India in a show of overwhelming dominance under overcast and cold conditions at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium. (South Asian Games: Indian Shooters Find Their Mark)
India also won seven silver and one bronze. Sri Lanka were left with just one gold medal with Suranjaya de Silva finishing first in men's 200m race.
India have so far won 26 gold, 22 silver and eight bronze in three days and just two events of men's and women's marathon -- to be held tomorrow morning -- are left in the athletics competition.
The best performance of the day came from Suman, who won the women's javelin event and her effort of 59.45m was a mere eight centimetre outside Annu Rani's national record of 59.53m.
Rani, who also competed today, had to settle for the silver with an effort of 57.13m. She had set the national record while winning a bronze in the 2014 Asian Games in Guangzhou.
In women's 10,000m, L Surya ran an impressive race as she clocked 32:39.86 to win the gold, ahead of team-mate Swaty Gadhave (33:57.09) and S Hewage (36:11.39) of Sri Lanka.
In triple jump, former Asian champion Renjith Maheswary improved the Games Record to 16.45m while winning the gold. Teammate Jayakumar Surendhar, who won the 110m hurdles yesterday, settled for a silver medal today with a leap of 15.89m. Pakistan won the bronze through Muhammad Afzal (15.76m).
In the absence of Asian champion Inderjeet Singh, who pulled out of the Games due to a back injury, Om Prakash Singh Karhana won the shot put gold with a modest heave of 18.45m.
Metric miler PU Chitra ran a tactical race to win the women's 1500m. As expected local lad Ajay Kumar Saroj took the men's gold in another thrilling final.
© PTI
India Dominate Hurdles Event
 In women's 400m hurdles, Indians were 1-2 as Jauna Murmu finished ahead of former Asian champion Ashwini Akkunji for the gold. Both Jauna and Ashwini served dope-related sanctions and missed action on tracks between 2011 and 2013.
Jauna delivered her best timing after 2010 as she clocked 57.69 secs for the gold, while Ashwini clocked 58.92 for the silver ahead of Sri Lankan Kawshalya (59.87s).
In men's 400m hurdles, Dharun Ayyasamy pipped Jithin Paul for the gold. Dharun was trailing in second place until the last hurdle but he accelerated in the last few meters to win the gold in 50.54 secs, while Paul clocked 50.57secs. Mehboob Ali of Pakistan took the bronze in a distant 52.04 secs.
In women's 200m, Srabani Nanda bagged the gold in 23.91 seconds, while Dutee Chand was second in 24.14 secs. In the men's 200m race, however, no Indian could finish on the podium. M Suranjaya de Silva bagged the gold in 21.00 secs.
India also won both the men's and women's 4x400m relay races. The men's team clocked 3:06.74 while the women's quartet returned with a timing of 3:35.44 to win the gold.