Archana claims TT gold

Bengaluru: Archana Kamath of Karnataka cruised to victory in the women's singles final to win the gold medal in table tennis at the National Games in Panaji on Thursday. Archana beat Diya Chitale of Maharashtra 4-1 (11-4, 11-7, 11-6, 7-11, 12-10) in a one-sided match.A turnaround for Archana came in the semifinals where she rallied to oust Lakshita Narang of Delhi 4-3 (7-11, 9-11, 11-8, 13-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9) in a tough encounter.Diya made too many mistakes in the final and that made life easy for the Karnataka paddler. There was a moment in the fourth game when Diya hit the groove. But it didn't last long as Archana wrapped it up in the extended fifth game to win the gold.Results: Women: Final: Archana Kamath (Kar) bt Diya Chitale (Mah) 11-4, 11-7, 11-6, 7-11, 12-10. Semis: Diya Chitale bt Swastika Ghosh (Mah) 11-8, 11-8, 11-4, 11-4; Archana Kamath bt Lakshita Narang (Del) 7-11, 9-11, 11-8, 13-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9. Quarters: Archana bt Mouma Das (WB) 13-11, 11-8, 9-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-4. Pre-quarters: Archana bt Kaushani Nath (WB) 11-7, 11-5, 15-13, 11-6.Men: Final: Anirban Ghosh (WB) bt Yashansh Malik (Del) 11-8, 11-6, 12-10, 11-5.Srihari, Nina sizzleNina Venkatesh of Karnataka won her fourth gold medal, winning the women’s 50m butterfly with a new record while Virdhawal Khade did the double, adding the men’s 50m butterfly to his tally. Nina overcame a stiff challenge from state-mate Manavi Varma (27.90 sec) to finish in 27.70 seconds, with her previous record being 28.39.Srihari Nataraj of Karnataka won gold in the 100m backstroke event with a Games record of 55.59s, eclipsing his previous mark of 55.80s set in Rajkot. Rishabh Das of Maharashtra and Karnataka’s Siva Sridhar finished close behind.Results (Karnataka only): Men: 100m backstroke: 1. Srihari Nataraj (55.59 NMR; OR: 55.80), 3. Siva S (57.41).Women: 1500m freestyle: 3. Shirin (18:18.21); 100m backstroke: 3. Ridhima Veerendra Kumar (1:05.86); 50m butterfly: 1. Nina Venkatesh (27.70 NMR; OR: 28.39), 2. Manavi Varma (27.90).Keerthi bags two silverBengaluru cyclist Keerthi C Rangaswamy returned two silver medals in the cycling events being conducted in New Delhi. The 20-year-old finished second in the 10km scratch race and timed 3:58.765 in the 3,000-metre individual pursuit.Results: Women: 10km scratch race: 2. Keerthi C Rangaswamy; Women 3km individual pursuit: 2. Keerthi C Rangaswamy (3:58.765); Men: 1000M ITT: 3. Venkappa Shivappa Kengalagutti (1:05.105).Doubles teams in semisKarnataka men’s and mixed doubles teams made it to the semifinals in tennis. SD Prajwal Dev and Adil Kalyanpur put it across Goa’s Christopher Marquis and Tejas Shevde 6-2, 6-1 to make it to the last-four stage. Later, Prajwal and Sharmada Balu upset Ankita Raina and Dhruv Hirpara 6-4, 4-6, 10-8 in mixed doubles. Other results: Wrestling: Men’s 125kg freestyle: 3. Nagaraj Danadamani; Hockey: Men: Pool B: Karnataka: 3 bt Tamil Nadu: 2.
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.