Tura (Meghalaya), Jan 17: Athletes from the Khasi Hills region continue to stretch their lead in the medals tally by a large margin here at the 5th Meghalaya Games as day three of the competitions rounded up on Wednesday.
East Khasi Hills has remained the dominant force at these games while West Garo Hills, East Jaintia Hills and Ri-Bhoi compete to try and break the domination by the Shillong teams, springing many a surprise by athletes with their dazzling performances in various categories, including athletics.
Tura town has been draped with a festive look for the last couple of days as large enthusiastic crowds throng the various venues to witness the ongoing events of the Meghalaya Games.
Astonishing are the talents being discovered among many of the young athletes at the games who are taking home the laurels.
The young gymnastic team representing East Khasi Hills have showcased the immense talent of the youth in the state sweeping the medals tally in this category of sports.
The gymnastic prowess of the young athletes kept the audience spellbound as they performed in various categories of gymnastics, such as the Vaulting Table, Floor Exercise and Balancing Beam, showcasing their talent pool and dedication.
The team walked away with the medals in the Senior, Junior, and Sub-Junior divisions. The prestigious title of the All-around Champion among men went to Mebantei Lyngdoh Marshillong, while All-around Champion Senior Category went to Wandalang Bernadette Malngiang.
Swimming was another star event of the day where it was once again East Khasi Hills dominating the pool at the finals winning 10 out of the 11 medals up for grabs. East Khasi Hills took away 9 gold medals, 7 silvers and swept all the 11 bronze medals on offer.
South West Khasi Hills was the lone team to put up a fight in the pool bagging 1 gold and 3 silver medals. East Jaintia Hills was compensated with a lone silver medal in swimming.
The events held today were freestyle (100 mts) men with all medals going to EKH. The result was similar in the women’s category of the 100-metre freestyle with all 3 winners from EKH.
In the 100-metre breaststroke (men), EKH took both the silver and bronze. They were separated by a silver won by EJH. However, in the women’s category, it was back to usual with all 3 medals going to EKH.
The men’s butterfly (100 meters) was once again won by EKH while the women’s category SWKH separated the 2 EKH winners.
In the men’s backstroke (100 meters), the monotony of EKH wins was broken with gold and silver going to the SWKH. The bronze however went to EKH. It was business as usual for the EKH swimmers in the women’s category with all 3 winners from the same district.
In freestyle relay (men), SWKH separated the two teams from EKH. Again it was back to usual with EKH clean sweeping the women’s category.
The last event, the mixed freestyle relay saw complete dominance by EKH which swept through the competition claiming all 3 medals on offer.
Khasi Hills sweeps badminton in boys and girls category
Domination of the games by guests East Khasi Hills continued at the badminton court as well with all four gold medals up for grabs in the boys’ and girls’ categories going to the district.
In the girl’s singles, the event was won by Netania T tariang who defeated her West Khasi Hills opponent, Shimtihum Lyngdoh with bronze going to West Jaintia Hills (WJH) and West Garo Hills (WGH).
In the girls’ doubles, Netaniya paired up with Caralinda Nongbri and defeated Shimtihum and her partner Doreenzia Kharbani. Once again WGH and WJH shared the bronze medals.
The boys’ singles saw Reynel Kharbuki defeat his compatriot from the same district (EKH) Stephan Marwein. The bronze was shared by Eastern West Khasi Hills (EWKH) and Ri Bhoi.
Reynel then partnered with Pratham Majumdar in the boy’s doubles finals to beat Banshabor Lamare and lechan Suchiang. Ri Bhoi and WGH shared the bronze.
Multiple districts grab medals in Wushu
Thrilling matches in martial arts unfolded at the Wushu event held at the Don Bosco School grounds with several districts sharing the spoils. However, it was once again East Khasi Hills that that stole the show. There were 9 gold medals up for grabs.
In the sub junior boys (45 kg) category, gold went to EWKH who beat WKH. Bronze was shared by EKH and SWKH.
In the sub junior boys (35 kg) category EKH beat the competition once again relegating SWKH to the silver while EWKH and Ribhoi had to be content with bronze.
In the junior boys (45 kg) category, SGH snatched gold from the clutches of WKH leaving EKH and EJH content with bronze.
For the senior men (45 kg) category, EWKH defeated EKH to take home gold. There were no more participants in this category.
In the junior boys (45 kg), NGH beat the competition leaving SWKH in the second spot. The third spot was shared by WKH and EKH.
The junior girls (45 kg) saw EJH take gold with WKH once again taking silver. Ribhoi and WGH shared the bronze.
In junior boys (48 kg), WKH finally laid their hands on a gold medal in the Wushu event defeating EWKH. EJH and SGH shared the bronze.
Junior girls (48 kg) saw EKH take both the gold and silver with WKH and WGH sharing the third spot.
The last medal decided was the junior girls (52 kg) category which was once again won by EKH who defeated WKH. Bronze was shared by SWKH and SGH.
West Jaintia Hills displays stellar performance, takes 4 medals
Athletic team from West Jaintia Hills shocked games favourite East Khasi Hills in the high profile athletics events of the games snatching victory by winning 4 of the 8 events up for grabs here at the Pa Togan Nengminza athletic stadium on Wednesday.
Ri Bhoi wasn’t far behind as they too bagged two gold medals alongside South West Khasi Hills (SWKH) while East Khasi Hills had to be contended winning one gold medal each to round up two.
In the Men’s 5000 meters race, Dabit Dkhar of WJH, clocked in at 15:53:9 to beat Banjoplang Wanniang of WKH who was close to 6 seconds behind. The bronze was taken by Iwelljohn Ramsiej with a timing of 16:00:2. In the women’s event for the same distance, SWKH won both the gold and silver with Lyntijingkyrmen K Jahrin winning with a timing of 19:55:2 and Marqueenless Ramsiej following at 20:03:2. Happiness Phawa of WJH took the bronze with a timing of 20:36:7.
In the women’s long jump event, gold was won by Ri Bhoi’s Joytiful Narlong with a distance of 4.56 meters while silver went to WKH’s Savinity Jyndiang (4.46). Ri Bhoi also took the bronze with Shidalin Rongpih jumping a distance of 4.38 meters.
In the 400 meters for men, WJH again won gold with Kyrshanlang Shylla winning with a time of 50.3 seconds. A little less than a second behind was Donbok Shabong of EKH with Kalbin Marak of East Garo Hills winning bronze at 52.6 seconds.
In the next event, the Women’s 400-meter race Ri Bhoi’s Retina Hanse beat her competition clocking 1:01:5 to take home gold. She was followed by Damika Lyngdoh of WJH at 1:03:9 and WKH’s Albamery Sohsang (1:08:4).
Renaldi Dhar of WJH, who earlier won the 100 metre race yesterday, added another gold medal to his kitty by jumping 6:34 meters to win the long jump for men. He was followed in silver position by Ri Bhoi’s Makdonal Mahjong (6.34) and EGH’s Chelchak Sangma won bronze with a jump of 6.13 meters.
In the 4×100 relay race for men it was a resounding win for WJH with gold at an impressive time of 45.3. But the highlight of the event was the neck-to-neck contest for the silver by the teams from EKH (47.0) and WGH (47.0) followed with silver and bronze with only 1 hundredth of a second separating the two teams.
The last event, the women’s 4×100 metre was won by EKH with 100 metre gold medalist Angelina Jackson being part of the team. EKH came in with a timing of 55 seconds but were given tough competition by the Ri Bhoi team who were just 3 hundredths of a second behind. WJH won bronze with 56 seconds.
