PANCHKULA: Haryana managed to fend off a surge from defending champions Maharashtra for the top spot in the Khelo India Youth Games by picking up a gold medal each in shooting and weightlifting on Day 6 of the competition here on Thursday.
Weightlifter Ashish and shooter Ramita dazzled on what turned out to be a quiet day for the home side, who still managed to negate Maharashtra's five gold (three in sprint and two in swimming) spree, and cling on to the top position with 33 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze.
Maharashtra's athletes seized the limelight in track and field, claiming three out of the four gold medals on offer before the swimmers added a couple more to fatten their tally to 31 gold, 28 silver and 25 bronze for second spot.
Manipur added one more gold to their kitty to retain the third spot with an overall tally of 13 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze, while Tamil Nadu with 10 gold, 10 silver, 8 bronze are at fourth. Karnataka leapfrogged Punjab to the fifth spot after bagging 9 gold, 9 silver, 9 bronze against Punjab's tally of 8 gold, 8 silver and 7 bronze.
It was the Maharashtra sprinters who stole the show to boost their overall tally in track and field events to 8 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze over the last three days.
