Sakshi Malik Wins Gold As India¡¯s Medal Count Reaches 252, Including 132 Gold At South Asian Games

Indian athletes continue to shine bright as they have another day full of stellar performances laden with medal wins at the South Asian Games.

On Sunday, swimmers and wrestlers continued their complete domination in their respective disciplines as India continued its commanding performance on yet another medal-laden day to leave rival countries far behind at the SAG.

The swimmers picked up as many as 7 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze while the wrestlers clinched four gold on offer to help India add 38 medals (22 gold, 10 silver, 6 bronze) on Day 7 of the regional Games.

India¡¯s total medal count stood at 252 (132 gold, 79 silver, 41 bronze), leaving behind host Nepal and Sri Lanka behind. Nepal has won 165 medals (45 gold, 44 silver, 76 bronze) while Sri Lanka have collected 197 medals (36 gold, 68 silver, 93 bronze).

The Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik led the charge for wrestlers as she was unstoppable on her way to the top podium finish in the 62kg category. While, U-23 world championships silver medallist, Ravinder clinched the gold in the men¡¯s freestyle 61kg.

Sakshi won all her matches one sided by pinning her opponents down while Ravinder had to work hard to clinch his gold against Pakistan¡¯s M Bilal after easily overcoming the challenges posed by Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi wrestlers in the earlier rounds.

Pawan Kumar (men¡¯s freestyle 86kg) and Anshu (women¡¯s 59kg) also won a gold each in their respective categories.

While Commonwealth Games gold medallist Pawan had to rely on his experience to win 4-1 against his Pakistani opponent in the final, Anshu claimed the gold against his Sri Lankan rival within a record 15 seconds of the bout.

India is expected to continue the gold rush today as eight Indian boxers have sealed their final places. India will now have a total of 15 boxers aiming for the gold medal.