South Asian Games 2019 Medals: Top 5 sports that got India the most gold medals

The 13th edition of South Asian Games culminated last Tuesday in Nepal and India finished at the top of the medal tally with 173 gold medals, 93 silvers and 45 bronze medals. The home team's players had dominated the proceedings during the first few days but the biggest country of south Asia, India bounced back in style to regain the pole position.

India did not send its cricket teams and men's football team otherwise, they could have won two or three gold medals more. The Indian teams decimated its opponents in team events as India won the gold medal in basketball, kabaddi and kho-kho.

There is only a single gold medal on offer in the team events hence, the importance of other games is comparatively more. In this article, we will have a look at the top five sports that got India the most gold medals:

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#5 Athletics - 12 gold medals

Athletics event - South Asian Games 2019

Sri Lanka won a plenty of events in athletics but even India managed to grab 12 gold medals in the sport. India's Abha Khatua won the gold medal in women's Shot Put with a throw of 15.32 meters while Tajinderpal Singh broke the SAG record in the men's Shot Put with a throw of 20.03 meters.

Karthik Unnikrishan won the men's triple jump event with an attempt of 16.47 meters and, Kirpal Singh took the pole position in the men's discus throw event. Lokesh Sathyana emerged victorious in men's long jump while Navjeet Kaur finished first in the women's discus throw competition.

Archana Suseent finished the 200 meters race in 23.66 meters to bring the gold home whereas Suresh Kumar outlasted his rivals to win the men's 10,000 meters race. Archana even won the women's 100 meters race besides, Sarvesh Anil and Jishna M seized the gold in men's and women's high jump, respectively.

Ajay Kumar Saro had won the country's first gold in athletics by winning the men's 1500 meters race on 3rd December.

#4 Boxing - 12 gold medals

Boxing event - South Asian Games 2019

Just like athletics, the Indian players captured 12 gold medals in boxing. Pinki Rani, Sonia Lather and Manju Bomboriya won the women's 51 kg, 57 kg and 64 kg events, respectively. On the men's front, Sparsh Kumar, Vikas Krishan and Narender finished first in the 52 kg, 69 kg and +91 kg categories.

Vinod Tanwar won the gold in both, men's light fly and bantam weight competitions while Amit Khatana and Gaurav Chauhan seized the gold medal in the middle and heavy categories. Talking about the female stars now, Kalaivani Srinivasan won the gold medal in light fly and Praveen finished first in the light boxers' category.

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#3 Wrestling - 14 gold medals

Amit Kumar

As always, the Indian wrestlers ensured that the Indian flag stays at the top in the multi-nation tournaments. Amit Kumar kicked off India's medal tally in wrestling with a gold in the 65 kg category and Rahul added one more gold by winning the 57 kg competition. Pinki and Sheetal Tomar won the women's 53 kg and 50 kg events, respectively.

The Indian wrestlers also reigned supreme in the heavier categories. Sumit seized the gold medal in men's 125 kg whereas Gursharan Preety Kapur finished first in women's 76 kg. Sarita won the women's 57 kg event while Sakshi Malik continued her fine form with a gold medal in 62 kg department. Anshu acquired the pole position in women's 59 kg tourney.

Pawan Kumar and Ravinder ensured that India ends wrestling tournaments on a high with two gold medal wins.

#2 Shooting - 18 gold medals

Shooting event - South Asian Games 2019

Along with wrestling, India has established its supremacy in shooting worldwide. Yogesh Singh ensured that India wins the gold in men's 25 meters center fire pistol while Mehuli Ghosh won the women's 10 meters air rifle event. Chain Singh lived up to the expectations by winning the gold in men's 50 meters rifle 3 positions. Annu Singh Raj won the women's 25 meters pistol event.

Pankaj Kumar, Gayathri Nithyanandam, Shri Parmanantham, Anish and Sharvan Kumar were the other individual gold medalists for India in shooting. Apart from the individual events, the shooters also won the gold in several team events to finish with 18 gold medals.

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#1 Swimming - 27 gold medals

Swimming event - South Asian Games 2019

Very few fans would have expected the Indian swimmers to dominate the way they did at South Asian Games 2019. Maana Patel was the star for India as she won 4 gold medals. The men's and the women's teams won the 4*200 meters freestyle relay race. They even captured the gold medal in the 4*100 meters medley relay race.

Divya Satija and Richa Mishra finished first in women's 50 meters butterfly and 200 meters medley race. Apeksha Fernanded secured two gold medals while the male swimmers too emerged victorious in their respective singles events.

Since there were a host of categories in swimming, the Indian contingent finished with more gold medals in the aqua sports than any other sport.