India bag twin kabaddi gold, rise to fifth in medals tally at Asian Youth Games

Riffa (Bahrain): India capped off a memorable day at the Asian Youth Games with twin gold medals in kabaddi, emerging champions in both the boys' and girls' events to surge to fifth place in the overall standings here on Thursday.

The dominant show on the mat lifted India's tally to two gold, three silver and five bronze medals (2-3-5), marking their best day yet at the continental event that will conclude on October 27.

China continued to lead the table with six gold, 10 silver and one bronze (6-10-1), followed by Thailand (6-2-2), Uzbekistan (6-1-2) and Iran (3-4-6) who incidentally lost both the boys' and girls' finals to India in kabaddi.

At the Isa Sports City, the Indian kabaddi teams produced contrasting wins in their respective finals.

The girls' team was ruthless, crushing Iran 75-21 to clinch the gold medal.

India led 33-12 at half-time and never looked back, adding 42 points in the second half while restricting their opponents to just nine.

The women's team had qualified for the final with an all-win record in the group stage, having beaten Bangladesh (46-18), Thailand (70-23), Sri Lanka (73-10) and Iran (59-26).

The boys' final turned out to be a much closer affair as India edged out Iran 35-32. India took the first half 21-16, and although Iran fought back to claim the second half 16-14, it wasn't enough to deny the Indians, who held on for a narrow three-point victory.

In athletics, India added two silver and one bronze to their tally.

Ranjana Yadav opened India's account with a silver medal in the girls' 5000m walk, clocking 23 minutes 25.88 seconds to finish behind China's Liu Shiyi (24:15.27). Korea's Jeong Chaeyeon took bronze in 25:26.93.

Ambure Shourya then clinched India's second silver in girls' 100m hurdles, finishing in 13.53 seconds, behind China's Keyi Zhang (13.51). Uzbekistan's Rahmonova Shodiyona won bronze in 13.89.

Jasmine Kaur added a bronze in girls' shot put with an effort of 14.86m. China swept the top two positions through Sun Mengyao (18.15m) and Li Mengyao (16.93m).

In taekwondo, India pocketed two bronze medals.

Debasish Das settled for bronze after a close 8.510–8.540 loss to China's Gao Zixuan in the boys' individual recognised poomsae semifinals.

The pair of Yashwini Singh and Shivanshu Patel also claimed bronze after going down 8.120-8.560 to Thailand's Suchanan Injang and Nitikon Yimprasert in the mixed pair recognised poomsae semifinals.

In kurash, India have already concluded their campaign with one silver and two bronze medals.

Kanishka Bidhuri entered the girls' 52kg final after defeating Setayesh Jalaloddin of Iran 10-0, but settled for silver after losing 0-3 to Uzbekistan's Mubinabonu Karimova by chala.

Khushi claimed bronze in girls' 70kg, going down to Durdona Tursunova of Uzbekistan by yonbosh, while Arvind bagged bronze in boys' 83kg, losing 0-10 to Shohjahon Golibov of Uzbekistan, who won by khalol.

Medal tally (India):

2 Gold, 3 Silver, 5 Bronze (2-3-5) -- 5th position overall.

Gold (2): Boys' Kabaddi, Girls' Kabaddi

Silver (3): Kanishka Bidhuri (Girls’ 52kg Kurash), Ranjana Yadav (Girls’ 5000m Walk), Ambure Shourya (Girls’ 100m Hurdles)

Bronze (5): Khushi (Girls’ 70kg Kurash), Arvind (Boys’ 83kg Kurash), Jasmine Kaur (Girls’ Shot Put), Debasish Das (Boys’ Individual Recognised Poomsae), Yashwini Singh & Shivanshu Patel (Mixed Pair Recognised Poomsae).