KIYG Day 9: Jharkhand, Odisha, MP qualify for hockey semi-finals

Also on day nine, M.P scooped up all the available golds in Water Slalom in Maheshwar and North Eastern states won all golds up for grabs in weightlifting as Maharashtra's (31 golds) lead at the top of the medal tally remained unchallenged, although the hosts with 25 golds replaced Haryana (23 golds) in second spot. In a move mid-table, Tamil Nadu has also replaced West Bengal in the sixth position.

MP continued their impressive showing in boy's hockey with an 8-2 win over Bihar while Haryana overcame Mizoram 3-1 in their final girls' hockey pool game. Jharkhand also won both their final boys and girls' pool games with both taking out their Uttar Pradesh (UP) counterparts in tight contests. While the boys won 1-0, the girl's registered a 2-1 victory. Odisha boys also beat Chandigarh 7-4 while MP girls trounced Manipur 10-0 at MP Women's Hockey Academy in Gwalior.

The results meant that Jharkhand, MP and Odisha qualified for both the Boys and Girls semis with Jharkhand and Odisha being the common clash in both the draws. M.P will face Punjab in the other Boys' semis while their girls take on Haryana in the second Girls' semi-final on Thursday, February 09, 2023.

Semi-final lineups were also drawn in Girls Kho Kho at the Abhay Prashal in Indore. Haryana takes on Bihar and Himachal clash with Maharashtra on Wednesday. Maharashtra defeated the hosts 48-27 in their final group game and Haryana got the better of Bihar but both made it through. Haryana also inflicted a huge 62-18 defeat on Telangana in their final group games.

MP's Vishal Sharma and Bhumi Baghel ensured the host's total dominance of the Water Slalom discipline, winning the Boys' C-1 and Girls' K-1 events by comfortable margins. Vishal completed the hurdled water course with minimum penalties in 80.870 secs, leaving silver S Karthika of Karnataka way behind with 366.410 secs. Bhumi also recorded a time of 90.060 secs to win even as Nagidhi Gayathri of Andhra won silver with 272.670 secs. Maharashtra won bronze in the Girls' event while Andhra won bronze among the boys. MP thus swept all the four golds in Water Slalom. Pradhyumna Singh Rathod and Mansi Batham of the home state had won the Boys K-1 and Girls C-1 events earlier on Monday.

Jammu & Kashmir's international fencer at the junior levels and a Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) athlete, Shreya Gupta, took out Laishram Abi Devi of Manipur 15-14 in a close encounter, to win the Girls' individual saber competition. Fencing began at Jabalpur's Ranital Sports complex on the day.

Akash Kumar of Bihar defeated Tejas Patil of Maharshtra 15-9 for the Boys' individual Foil gold. Mandipsinh Gohil of Gujarat won bronze. In the Boy's Epee individual, Lokesh Vemani of Telangana won gold, while Khuman Laishram Thoungamba of West Bengal won silver and Neer of Haryana won bronze.

In Swimming, which began at the Prakash Tarun Pushkar pool in Bhopal, more junior Indian athletes like Vedaant Madhavan and Apeksha Fernandes won golds. Vedaant representing Maharashtra, won the Boys' 200m freestyle in 1.55.39 secs. Apeksha, also from Maharashtra, won the Girls' 100m breaststroke gold in 1.13.87 secs. Also winning in the pool were Hashika Ramchandran of Karnataka (Girls 200m breaststroke), Abhinandan Khandelwal of Rajasthan (Boys 100m breaststroke) and Shubhankar Patki of Maharashtra (Boys 50m fly).

North Eastern states would have swept all the weightlifting golds on day nine, but for Tamil Nadu's T Madhavan, who won the Boys 67kg gold. Earlier Panchami Sonowal of Assam, won the Girls' 49kg and Shankar Lapung and Boni Mangkhya of Arunachal Pradesh won the Boys' 61kg and the Girls' 55kg respectively.

In the Tennis competition at the Indore Tennis Club, top seed Aryan Shah of Gujarat moved into the semis of the Boys' singles with a facile 6-1, 6-1 win over Tamil Nadu's Gagan Rakesh Vimal. The second seed Daksh Prasad also made it through and so did Karnataka's Jason Michael David and Tamil Nadu's Pranav Karthik.

In the Girls' singles, second seed Suhitha Murarai of Karnataka was the highest seed to go through on the back of a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 win over Maharashtra's Ruma Gaikaiwari. Joining her were Maharashtra's third seed Madhurima Sawant and S. Patil and Delhi's Tejasvi Dabas.

At the Emerald Heights grounds in Indore, day 10 will see the Boys' semi-final clashes as Punjab go head-to-head with Karnataka first and Kerala take on Meghalaya.

At the Mulna stadium in Balaghat, West Bengal takes on Arunachal in the first Girls' football semi-final, followed by hosts MP taking on Manipur. Monisha Singh for the hosts, has scored the highest eight goals in the tournament so far and will be one to watch out for in the second semis. (ANI)