Telangana men’s beach volleyball team wins gold at 36th National Games

Telangana State men’s beach volley team clinched gold at the ongoing 36th National Games in Gujarat, on Sunday.

Hyderabad: Telangana State men’s beach volley team clinched gold at the ongoing 36th National Games in Gujarat, on Sunday. The State team of P Krishna Chaitanya and Mahesh A defeated Andhra Pradesh 22-24, 23-21, 15-11 (2-1) in the summit clash. Earlier, the Telangana duo downed Goa 2-1 in the semifinals to make it to the final.

Phairembam Amit Kumar Singh of Telangana settled for the bronze in the C1 1000m Canoeing Sprint with a timing of 4.31.53 minutes. Salam Sunil Singh clocked 4.17.63min to clinch gold while Niraj Verma of Madhya Pradesh took home silver with a timing of 4.24.57min.

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Gujarat’s champion triathlete Pragnya Mohan was so confident of winning the National Games Women’s Individual gold medal on Sunday that she set herself a tougher target: win with a five-minute margin.

Not too surprisingly, she did not have any company for nearly two-thirds of the race in and outside the IIT Gandhinagar campus on her way to the gold. Even a howling wind during the cycling leg or oppressive humidity during her run could not shake her off her mission.

Meanwhile, claiming both canoeing & kayaking gold medals this morning after Adarsh Muralidharan Sinimol and Vishwanath Yadav picked up a 1-2 in Men’s Individual Triathlon for them, Services surged further at the top with 48 gold, 32 silver and 28 bronze for a 108-medal haul so far. Haryana, with 30 gold medals, retained a two-gold advantage over Maharashtra.

Almost looking possessed, Pragnya Mohan crossed the finish line triumphantly, much to the delight of a big crowd that came to cheer her. “My training has been so good that I could set a personal goal for myself in the event: dominate the field and win by at least five minutes. That pushed me through the race and I didn’t slacken even once,” she said after winning her maiden individual gold in the National Games.

Having finished 10th the last time in Kerala, Pragnya had a point to prove. Her gold medal effort in 1 hour 7 minutes and 32 seconds incidentally has swelled Gujarat’s gold haul to an impressive 12. “This has to be one of my best performances,” she conceded, falling back on data like her heart rate and power index to justify her smile of satisfaction.

She started well in the swimming leg but was third in the transition area for cycling behind the Maharashtra duo of Mansi Mohite and Sanjana Joshi. With only a few seconds separating her from the riders who left the IIT campus on the recently resurfaced road past Palaj to the nearby State Highway, it wasn’t too difficult for her to jump into the lead.

As for the pressure of expectations, though she is self-admittedly not very good at dealing with anxiety, she heard the chatter all right but focused on converting her training to performance in competition today. It paid her off, leaving the others to battle for minor medals.