Goa heads into Nat Games closing with a rush of gold

PANAJI
In a flurry of winning performances on the penultimate competition day in the ongoing 37th National Games on which curtains come down on Thursday, Goa’s contingent added gold, an identical number of silver and six bronze medals to their kitty.

The largest haul of golds came in the Sqay Martial Arts discipline at Fatorda where Goan exponents won six yellow metal medals.

Three more gold medals were won by Goan pugilists at Peddem and the Coelho siblings defended their reputation bagging the gold medals in their respective yachting contest.

With these 15 gold medals, Goa has achieved a historic 27 gold medals at the National Games in its overall tally of 91 medals.

Sqay, is a martial art form from Jammu and Kashmir and made its debut in the National Games this year. The Goan exponents of this martial art form won six gold and silver medals in the Combat format.

Another Sqay category – performance category – will be held on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Coelho siblings – Katya who presented the torch to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the opening ceremony and Dayne – bagged gold medals in their respective yachting contests (IQ foil) in women and men categories. The Katya-Dayne duo were leaders until Tuesday and declared winners at the Hawai Beach, Dona Paula when it became clear that Wednesday’s races could not be held due to lack of wind speeds.

Adhwait Menon won a silver medal in Men’s ILCA 4 category while Pearl Colvalcar clinched the bronze medal in women’s ILCA 4 event. 

“It’s the first time that Goa is hosting the National Games and I am still shocked that we have won the gold. The best thing is that my brother won the gold as well. It feels amazing,” said Katya after bagging the gold medal.

Meanwhile, Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankar will do the honours bringing down the curtains on the 37th National Games at the closing ceremony to be held at SPM Indoor Stadium, Bambolim at 2.30 pm on Thursday.

The games had commenced from October 25 but were inaugurated by Modi the next day on November 26 at a glittering opening ceremony at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, Fatorda.

Incidentally, Dhankar had also been the Chief Guest at the closing ceremony of the 36th edition held in Gujarat last year.

Maharashtra athlete overcomes jellyfish sting, wins triathlon gold 

PANAJI: Maharashtra’s Mansi Mohite, who clinched women’s triathlon gold medal at the 37th National Games at Miramar beach, was among the two athletes who were stung by jellyfish during the swimming.   

Drishti Marine lifesavers administered first-aid to the two athletes at Miramar beach. They treated their wounds with the help of vinegar, which is stored at every lifesaving tower for emergency situations involving jellyfish stings. 

Mohite informed “the jellyfish stung me when just over 100 meter were left in the swimming leg and I started feeling numb by the time I changed for the cycling leg”.

The swimmers normally use certain oil to keep the jellyfish away. Mohite was later shifted to the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC), where she was kept under observation for a few hours.

Meanwhile, Drishti informed that a 16-year-old triathlete from Manipur, who suffered a leg fracture during the running segment of the event, was also given first aid and later shifted to GMC.