Indian Athletes Take Medal Tally to 122 at 12th South Asian Games

India plundered most of the gold on offer for a fourth successive day at the 12th South Asian Games in Guwahati.

Players and officials of Indian Volley Ball team celebrate after defeating Sri Lanka in the final match at 12th South Asian Games 2016 in Guwahati on Tuesday. (Photo: PTI)

• India plundered most of the gold on offer for a fourth successive day with swimmers, archers and track-and-field athletes ensuring that the host continue to remain on top of the medals tally.
  
• The most stunning performance on Tuesday was by the swimmers, who swept 7 gold medals followed by track-and-field athletes and archers.
  
• Sajan Prakash bagged India’s third gold of the day and his fourth of the Games, by winning the 200m butterfly for men with a new record time of 2:03.02.
  

India plundered most of the gold on offer for a fourth successive day with swimmers, archers and track-and-field athletes ensuring that the host country’s top position on the medals tally remained unchallenged in the 12th South Asian Games in Guwahati on Tuesday.

Continuing their terrific show, Indians took their overall medal count to 122 (76 gold, 36 silver and 10 bronze).

Holding on to the distant second spot were Sri Lanka with 84 medals, including 17 gold, 36 silver and 31 bronze medals.

The most stunning performance on Tuesday was by the swimmers, who swept 7 gold medals followed by track-and-field athletes and archers. The archers won all five golds of the day, while the athletes also won similar number of gold along with six silver and three bronze medals.

Gold medal winning Indian team after men’s 4x200m freestyle swimming event at the 12th South Asian Games 2016 in Guwahati on Tuesday. (Photo: PTI)

India also won both the men’s and women’s gold in volleyball after defeating Sri Lanka in both the finals.

Saurabh Sangvekar started the gold-winning streak for India, setting a new Games record of 3:58.84 seconds to win the 400m freestyle for men. V Malvika secured the gold in 400m freestyle for women, setting a new meet record of 4:30.08 minutes.

Sajan Prakash then bagged India’s third gold of the day and his fourth of the Games, by winning the 200m butterfly for men with a new record time of 2:03.02.

This was followed by Damini Gowda winning the gold in 200m butterfly in yet another Games record time of 2:21.12. PS Madhu, in 50m backstroke for men, also set a new record of 26.86 seconds.

Indian team players pose for a group photograph after their win against Sri Lanka in the women’s volleyball event at 12th South Asian Games 2016 in Guwahati on Tuesday. (Photo: PTI)

The gold in 50m backstroke for women was clinched by Kimiko Raheem of Sri Lanka, setting a new record of 29.75 seconds.

Indians also won the gold in 4x200m freestyle for both men and women.

Silver winners for India on Tuesday were Sajan Prakash (400m freestyle for men), Shivani Kataria (400m freestyle for women), M Arvind (50m backstroke for men) and Maana Patel (50m backstroke for women).

Before the swimmers, the archers had set the tone in the morning session in Shillong winning all the five gold medals up for grabs to take their overall count to 10 gold and 4 silver medals.