State spikers settle for silver

Tamil Nadu men stun Kerala

Karnataka women were forced to settle for silver as Kerala emerged champions in the women’s volleyball event at the 35th National Games on Friday.

Kerala won 25-19, 23-25, 26-24, 25-12 in the final at Kozhikode. Tamil Nadu upset Kerala to win the men’s gold medal 24-26, 25-20, 25-23, 25-12. Rajasthan defeated Services 25-21, 25-22, 20-25, 25-19 to win the bronze in the men’s section while Tamil Nadu beat Uttar Pradesh 25-20, 25-17, 25-15 for the bronze in women’s section.

Badminton

Sourabh Verma of Madhya Pradesh won the men’s singles gold in badminton with a three-game win over Akshit Mahajan of Haryana at Kochi.

In the final, Verma prevailed 21-17, 8-21, 21-18. Kerala’s P C Thulasi triumphed in the women’s singles final, with a 21-18, 21-18 verdict over Rituparna Das of Telangana.
Kerala also won the mixed doubles gold, with Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan posting a 21-18, 14-21, 21-15 win over Tarun Kona and Sikki Reddy of Telangana.

Telangana won the men’s doubles and mixed doubles gold medals. Sumeeth Reddy and Nandagopal Kidambi beat Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar of Kerala 21-14, 19-21, 21-19 in the doubles while in the mixed doubles, Rituparna Das and Sikki Reddi beat state-mates Maneesha Kukkapalli and Meghana Jakkampudi 16-21, 21-19, 21-11.
Basketball

Kerala won the women’s gold in basketball at Kannur, outclassing Tamil Nadu 56-36 in the final. In the men’s title clash, Uttarakhand defeated Tamil Nadu 105-97 to clinch the title.

Karnataka eves won the bronze with a 74-70 win over Maharashtra. In the men’s bronze medal match, Services defeated Karnataka 90-53.

Boxing

In Thrissur, Bengal’s Vipin Kumar, emerged as bantamweight 56kg champion after his rival, SSCB's Durga Rao Vankala, was forced out midway through the bout owing to an injury.

SSCB took the 52kg gold as Sandeep thrashed Punjab's Jatinder Singh 26-10. Kerala’s Sandeep Chhikara defeated SSCB's Narender Berwal 18-9 in the +91kg final.

Devanshu Jaiswal won the 81kg gold after outclassing Haryana's Surender Singh 20-10. Andhra Pradesh's Shyam Kumar Kakara grabbed the 49kg gold, beating Haryana's Amit Singh 21-18. Manipur walked away with the 64kg gold through Thomas Meitei, who got the better of Delhi's Dinesh dagar 20-15.

Among the women, Haryana's Sonia was crowned the 51kg Games champion when she pummelled Arunachal Pradesh's Tonibala Chanu 22-8, while Manipur's Memthoi Devi emerged on top in the 75kg division after a 29-21 triumph over Aruna Mishra.