Shillong, Jan 17: East Khasi Hills continued its domination on the badminton court with all four gold medals up for grabs in the boys’ and girls’ categories going to the district at the 5th Meghalaya Games in Tura today.
In the girl’s singles, the event was won by Netania T Tariang, who defeated her West Khasi Hills’ opponent, Shimtihum Lyngdoh, with bronze going to West Jaintia Hills and West Garo Hills.
In the girls’ doubles, Netania paired up with Caralinda Nongbri and defeated Shimtihum and her partner Doreenzia Kharbani. Once again WGH and WJH shared the bronze medals.
The boys’ singles saw Reynel Kharbuki defeat his compatriot from the same district (EKH) Stephan Marwein. The bronze was shared by Eastern West Khasi Hills and Ri-Bhoi.
Reynel then partnered with Pratham Majumdar in the boys’ doubles final to beat Banshabor Lamare and lechan Suchiang (district not mentioned in official press release). Ri-Bhoi and WGH shared the bronze.
Over in wushu, the spoils were shared fairly evenly among the competing districts, through EKH continued to rule the numbers.
Nine gold medals in various categories were up for grabs and in the sub-junior boys (45kg) category gold went to EWKH, who beat WKH. Bronze was shared by EKH and SWKH.
In the sub-junior boys (35kg) category, EKH beat the competition once again relegating SWKH to the silver while EWKH and Ri-Bhoi had to be content with bronze.
In the junior boys (45kg) category, South Garo Hills snatched gold from the clutches of WKH, leaving EKH and EJH content with bronze.
For the senior men (45kg), EWKH defeated EKH to take home gold. There were no other participants in this category.
In the junior boys (45kg), NGH beat the competition, leaving SWKH in second spot. Third places were shared by WKH and EKH.
The junior girls (45kg) saw EJH take gold with WKH once again taking silver. Ri-Bhoi and WGH shared the bronze.
In the junior boys (48kg), WKH finally laid their hands on a gold medal in wushu by defeating EWKH. EJH and SGH shared the bronze. Junior girls (48kg) saw EKH take both the gold and silver with WKH and WGH sharing third spot.
The last medal decided was the junior girls (52kg) category, which was once again won by EKH, who defeated WKH. Bronze was shared by SWKH and SGH.
EKH also continued their dominance of the swimming pool for the second straight day by winning 10 out of the 11 medals that were fought for today. In addition to nine gold medals, the district also won a further seven silver before and all the 11 bronze medals on offer.
SWKH won the only other gold to go with another three silver medals while EJH claimed a lone silver for their efforts.
The events held today were men’s freestyle (100m) with all medals going to EKH. The result was similar in the women’s category of the 100m freestyle with all three podium finishers from EKH.
In the men’s 100m breaststroke, EKH took both the gold and bronze. They were separated by a silver won by EJH. However, in the women’s category, it was back to usual with all three medals going to EKH.
The men’s butterfly (100m) was once again won by EKH while the women’s category SWKH separated the two EKH winners.
In the men’s backstroke (100m), the monotony of EKH wins was broken with gold and silver going to the SWKH. The bronze, however, went to EKH. It was business as usual for the EKH swimmers in the women’s category with all three winners from the same district.
In men’s freestyle relay, SWKH separated the two teams from EKH. Again it was back to usual with EKH clean sweeping the women’s category.
The last event, the mixed freestyle relay saw complete dominance by EKH which swept through the competition claiming all three medals on offer.
Finally, EKH also dazzled in the gymnastics events by winning every medal on offer in the vault, floor exercise and balance beam.
The title of the all-round champion among men went to Mebantei Lyngdoh Marshillong, while all-round champion senior category title went to Wandalang Bernadette Malngiang.
In track and field, WJH stole the show by winning four of the eight events.
Ri-Bhoi won two more gold medals with SWKH and EKH winning one gold each.
In the men’s 5,000m race, Dabit Dkhar of WJH clocked in at 15:53.9 minutes to beat Banjoplang Wanniang of WKH, who was close to 6 seconds behind. The bronze was taken by Iwelljohn Ramsiej. In the women’s event for the same distance, SWKH won both the gold and silver with Lyntijingkyrmen K Jahrin winning with a timing of 19:55.2 and Marqueenless Ramsiej following at 20:03.2. Happiness Phawa of WJH took the bronze with a timing of 20:36:7.
In the women’s long jump event, gold was won by Ri-Bhoi’s Joytiful Narlong with a distance of 4.56m while silver went to WKH’s Savinity Jyndiang (4.46m). Ri-Bhoi also took the bronze with Shidalin Rongpih jumping a distance of 4.38m.
In the 400m for men, WJH again won gold with Kyrshanlang Shylla winning with a time of 50.3 seconds. A little less than a second behind was Donbok Shabong of EKH with Kalbin Marak of East Garo Hills winning bronze at 52.6 seconds.
In the next event, the women’s 400m race, Ri-Bhoi’s Retina Hanse beat her competition, clocking 1:01.5 to take home gold. She was followed by Damika Lyngdoh of WJH at 1:03.9 and WKH’s Albamery Sohsang (1:08.4).
Renaldi Dhar of WJH, who won the 100m race yesterday, added another gold medal to his kitty by jumping 6:34m to win the long jump for men. He was followed in silver position by Ri-Bhoi’s Makdonal Mahjong (6.34m) and EGH’s Chelchak Sangma (6.13m).
In the 4x100m relay race for men, WJH won another gold with a time of 45.3 seconds with Renaldi once again getting into the mix. The teams from EKH (47.0s) and WGH (47.0s) followed with silver and bronze with only one hundredth of a second separating the two teams.
The last event, the women’s 4x100m relay was won by EKH with 100m gold medalist Angelina Jackson being part of the team. EKH came in with a timing of 55 seconds but were given tough competition by the Ri-Bhoi team who were just three hundredths of a second behind. WJH won bronze with 56 seconds.
(Photo contributed)