Odisha girls win kho-kho gold; swimmer Aditi Hegde's medal haul touches seven

Patna, May 9 (PTI) Odisha grabbed the girls' kho-kho gold while Maharashtra swimmer Aditi Satish Hegde picked up her seventh medal of the Khelo India Youth Games on the sixth day of competitions here on Friday.

Odisha beat fancied Maharashtra in the girls' kho-kho final here while Aditi won a bronze in the 1500m freestyle event to take her medal haul to seven at the BIPARD Sports Complex in Gaya.

Odisha also won a silver medal in the boys' kho-kho.

Aditi has already won five gold -- including two in relays. She had won five medals the 2024 KIYG in Chennai and came to Gaya with a resolve to improve her medal count.

On the last day of the swimming competitions dominated by Karnataka, Haryana’s Arjun Singh not only emerged as the fastest swimmer of the meet with a victory in 23.91 seconds but also claimed his second sprint gold.

He had won the 50m backstroke gold earlier in the week.

If it was the Jammu and Kashmir boys' volleyball team that took the breath away of the fans at the Patliputra Sports Complex here late on Thursday, it was the turn of Odisha girls kho-kho team to do the same as they wiped off a deficit at the break to secure a memorable victory.

At the Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi, the 10m air rifle mixed team of Rudra Pratap and Divya Shree took Bihar’s medal count to 14. The duo showed poise and calm under pressure to beat an Uttar Pradesh pair for a bronze.

Bihar, however, suffered a heartbreak when the girls' team lost the sepaktakraw Regu final to Manipur.

Bihar now has one gold, five silver and eight bronze medals.

Despite the reverse in the kho-kho final in the morning, Maharashtra continued its relentless quest to stay on the top of the medal tally.

With a title win for the kho-kho boys' team and the air rifle shooting mixed team, and three athletes on the final day of swimming competition in Gaya, Maharashtra's haul rose to 23 gold.

The twin gold medals won by Rujula S (50m freestyle) and the boys 4x100m freestyle relay quartet enabled Karnataka to edge ahead of Rajasthan on the chart with 12 gold, 20 silver and six bronze medals.

Madhya Pradesh and Haryana complete the top five on the medal tally. PTI PDS PDS AT AT