SAG Badminton

The Indian men and women's teams romped into the semis of their respective events on Sunday dismissing their opponents at will for the second day on the trot at the NEHU, SAI Special Area Games.

While the Indian men have set up a mouth watering semi-final clash with Pakistan, the women's side will take on Bangladesh in the round of four.Other sides which made to the semis were Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the men's team event and Nepal and Sri Lanka in the women's category.

It was business as usual for the Indian women's team comprising of PV Sindhu, Ruthvika Shivani, Ashwani Ponnappa, PC Thulasi, K Maneesha and Sikki Reddy, which raced to a 3-0 win over lowly ranked opponents Nepal who could hardly put up a semblance of a fight.

PV Sindhu launched the proceedings for India beating Nepal's Sara Devi Tamang 21-2, 21-8. Sindhu's smashes were too hot to handle for the young Nepalese who had no choice but to wait for the inevitable. The tall, agile and crafty Indian dismissed her opponent with absolute ease even as a lively crowd put all its weight behind the Indian star.

The Indian killed competition in the first set itself and the second was a mere formality.

After Shivani went past her rival 21-6, 21-2 in the second game, the crowd was ready with a loud cheer for the famed doubles duo of Sindhu and Ponnappa.

The stands reverberated with chants of “India India” and even “Sindhu-Sindhu” as the Indian women made merry on the court. The duo closed the game 21-10, 21-8.

Later in the last session, India beat Afghanistan 3-0 to book the semi final berth which was a mere formality.The Indian men's side too had it easy against Afghanistan who went down 0-3.The Indian men's side had beaten Maldives and Bangladesh on Saturday.

In other matches of the day, the Sri Lankan women beat Bangladesh 3-0 and Pakistan women beat Maldives 3-0. Later in the evening session, Bangladesh beat Pakistan 3-0 in a closely contested affair.In the men's event, Sri Lanka and Pakistan set the stands on fire with their fiercely contested games, especially the one between Sri Lanka's Sachin Dias and Pakistan's Murad Aliq. Dias beat Aliq 25-23, 15-21, 21-15 even as Lanka went on to win 3-0 and earn a semis berth. Second best side in Group B, Pakistan also proceeded.Meanwhile, Bangladesh men's team beat Maldives 3-0 to make the semis cut.

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Sapna and Namdeo gold and bronze for India in Wushu Changquan

India’s Sapna Devi brought pride to India on the opening day of the 12th South Asian Games women's Wushu Taulu (Changquan) competition, winning gold at the Rising Sun Sports Complex in Assam Rifles, Shillong.

Sapna Devi's gold came after scoring 9.45 points while silver went to Susmita Tamang of Nepal with a score of 8.72. Meanwhile, bronze went to Pakistan's Nazia Parvaiz with a score of 6:30 points.

In the men's competition, gold went to Sri Lanka's P. L. H. Lakshan with a score of 8:86 while Bijay Sinjali of Nepal earned silver with a score of 8:80 points. For India, Anjul Namdeo was forced to settle for bronze after scoring 8:66 points.

In men’s Changquan category, the routine display was a thrilling one with excellence at par between the three medalists.

Dignitaries present at the medal ceremony were R.K Sharma, Chief Executive Officer of the 12th South Asian Games (Shillong), R.V Warjri IFS (Retd. Ambassador), Vivek Syiem Superintendent of Police (City) Shillong, Haryana Sports Minister, Anil Vij, Dr S.N Bali Deputy Chairman, GTCC OC South Asian Games 2016, and Bhupinder Singh Bajwa, President of the Wushu Federation of South Asia and President of the Wushu Association of India along with the Competition Director Shambhu Seth, Chairman Technical Committee, Wushu Association of India.

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WUSHU :Sanathoi Devi Enters Semifinals

The on-going Wushu competition being held at the Rising Sun Sports Complex, Assam Rifles, Laitkor, Shillong today put World Silver Medalist Yumnam Sanathoi Devi, 52Kg Sanshou Weight Category, into the semifinals.

In another round of 52 Kg Weight Category, Sri Lanka’s W P Malisha Madummali lost to Jharana Gurung of Nepal.

In both 60 Kgs Weight Categories, Juni Rai of Nepal and and Keisham Devi of India entered Semi Final by winning Ety Islam and JS Priyadarshani of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka respectively.

In the Quarterfinals Match, Sanathoi went on to beat Hima Moazzam of Pakistan in a clean sweep combat sparring.

Meanwhile, Kesisham Arunpama Devi beat J.S Priyadarshini of Sri Lanka.

In the Men 60 Kg Category, World Silver Medalist Surya Bhanu Pratab Singh defeated Abdullah of Pakistan.

Other athletes who have entered the Semifinals Match include Karim Faqri of Afghanistan who defeated Rajkumar Rasaili, of Nepal in the 52Kg Weight Category.

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12th South Asian Games: Indian dominance continues; Sri Lankan swimmer bagged two gold

In the third day of the 12th SAG, India maintained its top position in the medals tally with 24 Gold medals . Sri Lanka captured 6 Gold medals while Pakistan with Two gold stands third in the medal tally. Sri Lankan swimmer Matthew Abeysinghe won two gold medals today.

Today India started with gold medal. In the Women’s 40 KM Criterium Race Cycling event, Lidiyamol Sunny Menamparambil won the Gold medal while India’s Manorama Devi Tongbram got Silver medal. Sri Lankan Sudarika Priyadarshani P. Arachchige won the Bronze medal. There was close contest between the Indian eves. Sunny got 30 points while Manorama Devi finished with 26 points. Sri Lankan Cyclist Sundarika got 9 points.

In Men’s 60 KM Criterium Race (Cycling), Sri Lankans captured both Gold and Silver medals while Indian cyclist got the Bronze medal. Sri Lanka’s Jeevan Manjula Jayasinghe Silva Pilippeng got the highest 34 points and won Gold while his compatriot Navin Ruchira Appuhamy Mahappu Arachchige won Silver. Indian cyclist Pankaj Kumar settled with Bronze.

Indian swimmer’s domination continued in the pool . In Men’s 1500 M Free Style Sajan Prakash bagged gold while Sauravh Sangvekar clinched Silver. Md. Mahfizur Rahman of Bangladesh got the bronze medal. In Men’s 50 M Free Style Matthew Abeysinghe of Sri Lanka won gold, Md. Asif Reza of Bangladesh won silver while India’s Neil Contractor bagged the bronze medal.

In Men’s - 200 M Breast Stroke Sandeep Sejwal of India won gold, Kiran Jaisinghe of Sri Lanka won the silver and Bangladesh’s Md. Shariful Islam was satisfied with bronze. Men’s– 100 m Butterfly Stroke Sri Lankan Matthew Abeysinghe won gold, Suporiyo Mondal of India won the silver and Kt. Cherantha De Silva of Sri Lanka won the bronze.

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12th South Asian Games: India top in medals tally, Sri Lanka and Pakistan in second and third

Guwahati, 7th February: The Day 3 started for India with Gold. Indian women today brought laurels for the country. Cyclist Lidiyamol Sunny Menamparambil won the Gold medal in the Women’s 40 KM Criterium Race (Cycling) event while Manorama Devi Tongbram got the Silver medal. In Weightlifting Indian lifters continued to reign with Sambo Lapung winning Gold in Men’s 69 Kg event and Saraswati Rout bagging the Gold medal in the Women’s 58 Kg event.

Sri Lanka continued with their brilliant performance in the Games with Gold in Cycling and Weightlifting. India remains top of the table with 17 Gold medals, Sri Lanka stands second with five Gold medals and Pakistan is placed third with one Gold in Women’s 200 M Breast Stroke till 3 PM today.

The buzz for the 12th South Asian Games has caught on with the people of Guwahati and Shillong. With tickets being in high demand, all seats for the much awaited hockey match between India and Pakistan , to be played tomorrow in Guwahati, already sold out.