The Indian men and women’s kho kho teams showed who’s the boss when they reigned supreme and claimed gold medals at the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal on Wednesday. The Indian men’s team, who clinched gold in 2016, defeated Bangladesh in the final while the women’s team overwhelmed the hosts to stand at the top of the podium.
In the men’s category the 2016 gold medalists, led by Maharashtra’s Balasahaeb Pokarde, registered a thumping victory over Bangladesh by innings and seven points and a scoreline of 16-9. Deepak Madhav was the star for India with five vital wickets for the team. Deepak also managed to spend more than two minutes on the mat.
Madhav claimed it to be a special victory for the team and said he was happy to contribute in the winning cause.
“This is a very special win for the team. We entered the tournament with confidence and have followed the game plan to the toe. I am really happy that I could personally contribute in the medal win for the team,” said Madhav.
Later in the women’s final, it was teams captain Nasreen who led from the front as she chased down five points. She was well-supported by teammate Kajal Bhor who contributed five valuable points in the teams total. The women’s team crashed Nepal’s golden dream by wrapping up the match 17-5 to clinch the yellow metal with an innings and 12 points win.
While the Indian team took the top spot in both the categories, Bangladesh had to be content with silver in the men’s event while hosts Nepal had to settle for silver.
On the other hand in the women’s category hosts ended the tournament behind India and took the second spot on the podium while Bangladesh ended the campaign with a bronze medal.
Earlier in the semifinal of the tournament both the men’s and women’s teams had ousted Sri Lanka’s men’s and women’s team. The men’s team had overwhelmed the Lankan’s by an innings and 13 points with scores of 21-8 while the women’s team registered victory over Sri Lanka with the final score of 32-4 scoreline.
