Assam, Bengal reap rich harvest on Bihu 

Guwahati: Assam’s contingent reaped a wonderful harvest on Bihu as their lawn bowlers helped the State double their gold medal haul to six at the Khelo India Youth Games here on Wednesday. West Bengal joined Assam in stealing Maharashtra and Haryana’s thunder on Wednesday by also winning three precious metal.
 
 
The 19-year-old Surajit  Burhagohain hit pay-dirt in the Lawn Bowls boys under-21 singles final with a facile 21-10 win against Jharkhand’s Abhsishek Lakra. The boys fours and girls triple teams made the home State’s cup of joy brim over. In Assam’s only reverse, the girls pair of Abhaya Bharti and Soni Kumari Gupta lost by one point to Bihar’s Khushbu Kumari and Nikhat Khatoon.

However, on a day on which 17 gold medals were at stake, Maharashtra and Haryana picked up two each to stay on top of the medals tally. It was at the velodrome that Maharashtra picked up their twin gold medals on Wednesday, with Kolhapur’s Pooja Baban Danole winning her fourth gold in girls under-17 competition and Mayur Pawar emerging the fastest under-21 rider.
 
 
Haryana under-17 rider Arab Singh won the boys individual pursuit gold while Anjali Chaudhary claimed the girls under-21 25 pistol shooting title to ensure that the gap with Maharashtra would not widen at the end of the day. They would be disappointed that Anil Manglaw was beaten by Punjab’s Naman Kapil in the boys under-21 individual pursuit cycling final.
Uttar Pradesh edged ahead of Delhi to the third place after their boys under-17 volleyball team winning the final against a battling Uttarakhand. Uttar Pradesh and Delhi have 17 gold and 48 medals each and were separated by the silver medal count.
 
 
West Bengal  struck gold through sprint cyclist Triyasha Paul, the under-21 Mixed Team rifle shooters Ayushi Poddar and Amartya Mukherjee as well as the girls under-17 volleyball squad.  The three gold show on Wednesday helped the State slip into the top 10 with seven gold among their 22-medal collection.
 
 
Triyasha Paul and Odisha’s Swasti Singh joined Pooja Danole as multiple gold medallsts in cycling competition. Assam’s Rimanju Roy showed that he could have possibly finished with a better medal in the individual pursuit by clocking a faster time in bronze medal ride-off than either rider in the under-17 final.
 
 
Kerala’s lone gold on Wednesday was won by the under-21 girls volleyball team who overcame early nerves to find their A game and beat West Bengal in straight sets. The Gujarat boys, who turned the table to Tamil Nadu in the semifinals, went on to beat Haryana in four sets while Uttar Pradesh boys defeated Uttarakhand by a similar margin.

The results (all finals):
Cycling:
Boys under-21
Sprint (200m): 1. Mayur Pawar (Maharashtra) 11.306 seconds; 2. Paul Collingwood (Andaman & Nicobar Islands) 11.576; 3. Abhindu A (Kerala) 11.575.
Individual Pursuit (4000m): Naman Kapil (Punjab) 4:56.433 beat Anil Manglaw (Haryana) 4:56.912; Bronze medal ride-off: Venkappa Kengalagutti (Karnataka) 4:58.412 beat Dinesh Kumar (Odisha) 4:59.537.
Boys under-17
Individual Pursuit (2000m): Arab Singh (Haryana) 2:28.306 beat Mukesh Kumar Kaswan (Rajasthan) 2:29.874; Bronze medal ride-off: Rimanju Roy (Assam) 2:27.688 beat Dinesh Khichar (Rajasthan) 2:32.048.
Girls under-21
Sprint (200m): 1. Triyasha Paul (West Bengal) 12.362 seconds; 2. Mayuri Lute (Maharashtra) 12.558; 3. Aleena Reji (Kerala) 12.647.
Individual Pursuit (3000m): Swasti Singh (Odisha) 4:20.237 beat 2. Monika Jat (Rajasthan) 4:25.355. Bronze medal ride-off: Keerthi Rangaswamy (Karnataka) 4:23.930 beat Gongutri Bordoloi (Assam) 4:26.302.
Girls under-17
Individual Pursuit (2000m): Pooja Danole (Maharashtra) 2:47.415 beat N Biseshori Devi (Maharashtra) 2:57.293; Bronze medal ride-off: Ankita Rathod (Karnataka) 2:54.859 beat Leakzes Angmo (Delhi) 2:55.90.
Lawn Bowls
Boys under-21
Singles: Surajit  Burhagohain (Assam) beat Abhishek Lakra (Jharkhand) 21-10. Bronze medals: Karan (West Bengal) and Ayush (Delhi).
Fours: Assam (Sanzio Pandey, Scion Shiv Mahanta, Roktim Kashyap and Abhilakh Handique) beat West Bengal (Nikunj Agarwal, Venkatesh Bagrodia, Anirudh Agarwal and Parikshit Roy Chowdhary) 23-10. Bronze medals: Bihar (Jameel Ahmed, Harsh Raj, Minku Kumar and Chitranjan Kumar) and Jharkhand (Rahul, Nishant, Yuvraj Kumar and Parveen Ekka).
Girls under-21
Pair: Bihar (Khushbu Kumari and Nikhat Khatoon) beat Jharkhand (Abhaya Bharti and Soni Kumari Gupta) 14-13. Bronze medals: Assam (Karina Patowary and Jinu Gogoi) and Uttarakhand (Ritika and Prinsa).
Triple: Assam (Suman Kumary, Suranjana and Adnita) beat Delhi (Preksha, Tanvi and Rajasvi) 23-7. Bronze medals: West Bengal (Saheli Banerjee, Mushkan, Prachi) and Jharkhand (Chhoti Kumari, Unnati Priya, Julie Kumari).
Shooting
Girls under-21 25m Sports Pistol: 1. Anjali Chaudhary (Haryana) 22 points; 2 Ishika Singh (Delhi) 20; 3. Devanshi Dhama (Uttar Pradesh) 18.
Mixed Team Under-21 10m Air Rifle: West Bengal (Ayushi Podder and Amartya Mukherjee) beat Tamil Nadu (Kavi C Rakshna and Rithik Ramesh) 17-13. Bronze medal play-off: Punjab (Samiksha Dhingra and Sunmoon Singh Brar) beat Madhya Pradesh (Bandhvi Singh and Divyam Mishra) 16-12.
Trap Mixed Team Under-21: 1. Madhya Pradesh (Neeru and Akash Kushwaha) 46 points, 2. Haryana (Kiran and Bhowneesh) 39; 3. Delhi (Aadya and Kabir Sharma) 39. (Haryana awarded silver with better score in qualifying).
Volleyball:
Boys under-21:  Gujarat beat Haryana 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-21, 25-16). Bronze medal play-off: Tamil Nadu beat Uttar Pradesh 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-17).
Girls under-21: Kerala beat West Bengal 3-0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-21).  Bronze medal play-off: Haryana beat Tamil Nadu 3-1 (19-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-17).
Boys under-17:  Uttar Pradesh beat Uttarakhand 3-1 (22-25, 26-24, 25-19, 25-16). Bronze medal play-off: Gujarat beat Haryana 3-2 (32-30, 23-25, 25-20, 17-25, 15-10).
Girls under-17: West Bengal beat Rajasthan 3-1 (25-22, 18-25, 25-21, 25-23). Bronze medal play-off: Karnataka beat Kerala 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-23).