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Last year's finalist Tejal Rajendra Salve (Maharashtra) stormed to the top of the charts in the girls' compound qualifying round in the Khelo India Youth Games Archery competition with some fine shooting at the Sandy's Compound Ground here on Sunday, scoring 697 points. She set the tone for Maharashtra archers to top ranking in three of four events.
The Khelo India Athlete from Jalna district who has represented India in the 2024 Asia Cup in Suwon, South Korea, left her competitors well behind with a splendid card of 353 (out of 360) in the second half. Her teammates, Vaidehi Hirachandra Jadhav (692) and Prithika (690) claimed the second and third ranks. Andhra Pradesh's Kodandapani Thaurneesh Jathya earned himself the top rank in the boys' recurve qualifying round with a total of 655, two points more than Meghalaya's Devraj Mohapatra. His first half haul of 332 points stood him in good stead, insuring him against a slide in the second when he shot 323. Dnyanesh Cherale (Maharashtra) behind in the third rank. Defending champion Shubham Kumar, a Khelo India Athlete from Bihar's Bhojpur district, did not have the best day on the field, shooting 309 points in either half, to be ranked 14th among 16 athletes. However, he will draw strength from the fact that despite being 11th in qualifying round in Chennai last year, he went on to win gold. Last year's silver medalist, Sharvari Somnath Shende (Maharashtra) was in a league of her own in the girls recurve qualifying round, shooting a score of 667 points. The Punekar finished 13 points ahead of her teammate and fellow Khelo India Athlete Vaishnavi Baburao Pawar. Haryana's Annu claimed the third rank with a score of 652. Maharashtra's Manav Ganeshrao Jadhav, who won the mixed team compound gold with Aditi Swami last year, topped the boys qualifying round today with a 713 points. The Khelo India Athlete from Amravati was tailed by Diwanshu Singh (Jharkhand) and Devansh Singh (Rajasthan), the latter two also breaching the 700-point mark. Meanwhile, on the opening day of volleyball competition in the Patliputra Sports Complex in Patna, Jammu and Kashmir overturned a 1-2 deficit to beat Uttarakhand 3-2 (18-25, 25-20, 16-25, 27-25, 15-9) in boys Group A and Gujarat beat Kerala 3-0 (25-12, 18-25, 25-18, 25-19) in girls Group B. In other girls matches, West Bengal beat Bihar 3-0 (25-9, 25-7, 25-9) in Group A and Tamil Nadu defeated Jharkhand 3-0 (25-13, 25-11, 25-7) in Group B. And in Kabaddi, the Haryana boys' team opened its campaign to retain gold with a comfortable 57-30 victory over Karnataka after leading 28-14 at the half-time in the Rajgir Sports Complex. However, defending champion Haryana girls' team had to strain every sinew to keep Punjab at bay. It rode on the five-point first-half lead to win 33-32 despite a gallant attempt by Punjab. (ANI)
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