Raipur, March 30 Arunachal Pradesh's middle-distance runner Nedi Ngi won the women's 5000m gold, while Maharashtra achieved an impressive 1-2 in the men's category. However, rain forced the organizers to cancel the evening session on the opening day of the athletics competitions of the Khelo India Tribal Games here on Monday.
Ngi held back until the last lap before sprinting in the final 200m to secure the gold medal with a time of 18:24.66s. Meanwhile, Maharashtra's Govind Padekar (15:11.35s) and Suraj Mashi (15:11.64s) perfectly paced themselves to win the gold and silver medals respectively in the men's 5000m category.
"I am making a comeback after focusing on academics, and I am extremely happy to have won the gold medal here. Now that I have completed my graduation, I want to focus on getting into the National Camp and hopefully, the Indian team for major events," Ngi told SAI Media after the race.
Ngi's gold medal-winning performance helped Arunachal Pradesh consolidate their third position in the medal tally with six golds, one silver, and two bronze.
Karnataka extended their lead at the top of the table with two gold medals from the wrestling mat in Ambikapur.
Wrestler Rohan Doddamani won Karnataka's first gold medal outside the swimming pool when he defeated Rajasthan's Dinesh Solanki by technical superiority in the 60kg greco roman final.
Manisha then wrapped up the day for the table toppers with a hard-fought 12-8 win by points over Himachal Pradesh's Muskam.
Karnataka now has 17 gold, six silver, and five bronze medals. Odisha continues to be in second place with nine gold, four silver, and 10 bronze medals.
Meanwhile, Mulayam Kharwar won Bihar's first gold medal of the day with a dominant win over Rakesh Meena of Rajasthan in the men’s 65kg freestyle final, with KV Kemppannavar of Karnataka taking home the bronze medal.
At the international hockey stadium in Raipur, favourites Odisha set up a final clash against Mizoram. In the semi-finals, Odisha thrashed Madhya Pradesh 8-0 while Mizoram got the better of Jharkhand 3-2.
