Dhaka: India dished out their best performance on Monday grabbing 42 medals, including 21 gold, to end the penultimate day with a total haul of 170 medals in the 11th South Asian Games here.
India won 21 gold, 13 silver and seven bronze, their largest haul on a single day in the Games, with most medals coming from swimming and track and field events.
With just three gold medal events -- two from table tennis and one from marathon -- left in the Games, India asserted their regional supremacy by winning 88 gold, 53 silver and 29 bronze medals.
It was a keen tussle for the second and third spots between hosts Bangladesh and Pakistan. Bangladesh have won 96 medals (18 gold, 23 silver and 54 bronze) while Pakistan have bagged 77 medals (18 gold, 25 silver and 34 bronze).
Athletics and swimming fetched India most medals today and in the process stamped their supremacy in both events.
India won four gold, four silver and one bronze on the last day of athletics competition today to end their campaign with 10 gold, 11 silver and seven bronze and push Sri Lanka (seven gold, six silver and five bronze) to second place.
Indian swimmers ended their campaign in style, winning four gold and a silver today to sign off with a rich haul of 16 gold, seven silver and two bronze medals.
India had the smallest contingent of three in boxing but the trio of Amandeep Singh (men's 48kg), Suranjoy Singh (51kg) and Chhote Lal (57kg) emerged champions in their respective bouts to earn three gold medals.
Indian paddlers picked three gold and three silver today and they are set to grab a lion's share of medals as they are assured of two more yellow metals tomorrow as the men's and women's singles finals are all-Indian affairs. They had earlier bagged the men's and women's team gold medals.
With Tuesday's two gold and two silver, India will end with seven gold and five silver in table tennis.
In men's doubles final, Amalraj Anthony and Sanil Shetty beat compatriots Soumyadeep Roy and Jubin Kumar 11-9, 11-2, 11-7. Shamini Kumaresan and Madhurika Patkar took the women's doubles title after beating Divya Deshpande and Pooja Shahasrabudhe 11-9, 17-15, 8-11, 12-10 for top-two finish.
Amlaraj and Madhurika picked their second gold and India's third when the paired up in the mixed doubles to beat Soumyadeep and Shamin.
The men's and women's singles finals tomorrow will be all-Indian affairs.
Soumyadeep beat Chalitha Ranjana (Sri Lanka) 11-3, 11-8, 11-7, 11-7 to set up a summit clash with Amalraj who lined himself up for a triple gold with a 11-6, 11-5, 11-4, 11-9 win over Bangladesh's Mahaboob Al Khondoker.
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In women's singles final, Madhurika is eyeing for a her triple gold against Shamini Kumaresan on Tuesday.
Shamini beat Tharinda Darshini of Sri Lanka 11-9, 11-5 while Madhurika defeated Nepalese Muna Basukala 11-5, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8 in the semifinals today.
Tarundeep Rai and Dola Banerjee emerged the individual winners in archery. India had also won the men's and women's team gold medals, besides bagging one silver and one bronze.
In athletics, India pocketed four gold, four silver and one bronze medals though they failed to clinch the top places in 100m men's and women's sprints.
Shehan Abeypitiya of Sri Lanka and Naseem Hamid of Pakistan became the fastest man and woman in the Games.
India's Abdul Najeeb Qureshi (10.56 sec) was second in men's 100m sprint behind Abeypitiya while Liaqat Ali (10.63 sec) of Pakistan finished third.
India returned empty handed in women's 100m sprint which was won by Naseem in 11.81 secs. Sri Lanka won both the silver and bronze through Pramila Priyadarshini (11.93) and Achala Shalika Dias (12.12).
The 4X400m Indian men's quartet of Bibin Mathew, Binu KM and Bineesh VB pipped the Sri Lankans in an exciting finish relay race at the Bangabandhu National Stadium tracks here.
The Indians clocked 3:08.62s for the gold, while the Sri Lankan quartet of Rohan Pradeep, Rohitha Pushpa, Prasanna Amarsekara and UG Wickeramasing timed 3:08.94s.
In women's 4X400m, Indian quartet of Jauna Murmu, Ashwini AC, Mary Thomas Tiana and Priyanka Pawar clinched gold by clocking 3:38.62 ahead of Lankan quartet of Tharuja Kumari, Menka Wickeramasing and Ratna Kumari (3:44.81s).
Bangladesh's Jasmin Akhter, Ishrat Jahan, Khurshida Khatun and Rowsoara Putul clocked 3:52.29 for the bronze.
India had a gold-silver finish in the men's high jump with Harishankar Roy and Nikhil Chittrarasu bagging the top two places.
Participating in a major event after a long injury lay-off, Roy jumped 2.16m while Chittarasu cleared 2.13m. Nalin Priyantha of Sri Lanka also cleared 2.13m but the Indian got the silver as he had lesser number of attempts.
Long distance runner Sunil Kumar earned India the fourth gold when he won 1500m race with a timing of 14:23.83. India also bagged the silver through Mohammad Yunus (14:24.22) while Sri Lanka's Chaminda Wijekoon (14:47.68) took the bronze.
In the women's long jump, India's Reshmi Bose (6.09) and Prajusha MA (5.96) bagged the silver and bronze respectively. Chamali Dilrukshi (6.20m) of Sri Lanka bagged the gold. Indian women's football team earned the gold to erase the disappointment of the men's side who returned empty handed.
In the final, Indian womens rode on a double strike from Naobi Chanu Laishram to register a 3-1 win over Nepal in the final. Kangujam Rebika Devi scored the third gold for India. Nepal pulled one back through Jamuna.
Indian swimmers ruled the roost grabbing all the four gold medals including a new meet record today.
At the National Swimming Complex here, India also bagged a silver to sign off their campaign with 16 gold, seven silver and two bronze. Indians reigned supreme in 16 of 19 swimming events.
In the 50m breaststroke, Arjun Jaya Prakash shattered the 30.43 record held by Mohammad Shahajahan Ali Rony of Bangladesh as he clocked 30.04 en route to the gold medal.
Having made a national meet record in the 50m butterfly, Shubha Chittaranjan picked her second gold medal when she finished first in the 50m freestyle with a timing of 27.98s
India had a 1-2 finish in the same event with Sneha Sambandam (28.67) picking the silver.
The women's quartet of Fariha Zaman, Gauri Desai, Richa Mishra and Talasha Prabhu clocked 3:41.45s for the medley relay gold as Sri Lanka (4:52.24) and Bangladesh (4:55.94) finished second and third respectively.
A star studded Indian men's team comprising Veerdhawal Khade, Rehan Poncha, Aaron D'Souza and Arjun Jaya Prakash clocked 3:58.76 to fetch the gold way ahead of Bangladesh (4:00.39) who settled for silver. In the newly introduced wushu, India picked one gold and two silver.
At the Bangladesh Krida Shiksha Pratisthan (BKSP) centre in Sylhet, Dewan Singh Huidrom defeated his opponent from Nepal in the chang group to bag the gold.
Somorjit Saglosem (nan group) and Modun Maring Thonpa (taiji group) bagged two bronze medals as India signed off their campaign in wushu with four gold, three silver and two bronze to finish on top. India had bagged a silver through Sanatombi Chanu Leimapokpam in the taiji group on Sunday.
India picked one gold, one silver and two bronze medals in taekwondo. Sandeep Kundu beat Ravindra Rajapaksha 6-3 for the gold medal in the men's over 87kg final.
India had to settle for silver in the women's under 53kg when Latika Bhandari bowing to Ayasha Shakya of Nepal 1-5. The two bronze medals came through Shristi Singh (women's under-57kg) and Nakul Malhotra (men's under 87kg).
In karate, India bagged three bronze medals through Paritosh Sharma (men's 67kg), Revathi G (women's 61kg) and Sewabrat Deuri (men's 61kg).
Dominating the SAG from its inception in 1984, India had won 234 medals (118 gold, 69 silver, 47bronze) in the last edition in Colombo. But that was when 216 gold medals were on offer which is not the case this time.
India will host the next edition of the SAG in 2012 with the venue and dates yet to be decided.
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