The 13th edition of the South Asian Games 2019 kicked off day before on 1st December 2019 in the city of Kathamndu - Pokhara in Nepal with a grand opening ceremony at the Dasarath Rangasala Stadium.
Along with the hosts Nepal, the other countries competing at the South Asian Games 2019 are India, Pakistan, Maldives, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in a wide field comprised of 26 different sports.
The Indian contingent consists of 487 athletes in a total of more than 15 sporting disciplines. Indian athletes were in action on the second day of the event across multiple sports.
The host nation Nepal was dominant on the day getting themselves atop the overall medal tally with a haul of 15 gold medals, 3 silver medals and 6 bronze medals across all the events.
Indian athletes opened their medal account on the second day with a gold medal in the Men's Individual Triathlon event with Adarsha M.N. Sinimol grabbing the top spot. Fellow countryman Bishworjit Srikhom was able to make it a 1-2 finish for India in the Men's Individual Triathlon event.
Indian women tri-athletes Thoudam Sorojini Devi and Mohan Pragnya were successful with a silver and a bronze in the Women’s Individual Triathlon event.
The Individual Triathlon event is an intense sport which consists of a 750m swim, followed by a 20km bike race and ending in a 5km run.
Gold medal winner Sinimol clocked a timing of 01:02.51 to get the gold in the Men’s individual event followed by Bishworjit, who finished second racking up a time of 01:02:59. Nepal's Basanta Tharu got the bronze medal finishing the Triathlon in 01:03:06.
In the Women’s Individual Triathlon event, Sorojini ended with a timing of 01:14:00 to get the silver medal finishing behind Nepal's Sony Gurung who got the gold medal with a timing of 01:13:45. The bronze medal winner Pragnya clocked a timing of 01:14:57.
The medal tally further improved for the Indian nation with a haul of medals in the Taekwondo events. A total of ten medals in the Taekwondo events were claimed by Indian athletes with two gold medals in Men's Pari U-23 Poomsae and Men's Pair 23-29 Poomsae events.
The following is a breakup of India's medal Tally in the Taekwondo events:
Gold Medals
Men's Team U-23 Poomsae - Lalthlamunapuia, Lalfakzuala, Daniel Lalhumthanga
Pair 23-29 Poomsae - Gaurav Singh and Harsha Singha
Silver Medals
Pair U-23 Poomsae - Shilpa Thapa and Kunal Kumar
Men's Team 23-29 Poomsae - Ranjit Kumar, Soyam Chinglemba Singh, Laishram Dingku Singh
Men's 23-29 Poomsae - Rahul Jain
Women's U-23 Poomsae - Mamta Kumari Shah, Shilpa Thapa, Geeta Yadav
Women's Individual U-23 Poomsae - Rupa Bayor
Women's 29+ Poomsae - Prajakta Prakash Ankolekar
Bronze Medals
Men's 29+ Poomsae - Gangphung
With the Day 2 medal wins, India sits at the second spot on the South Asian Games 2019 medal tally with a total of 14 medals - 3 gold medals, 8 silver medals and 3 bronze medals.
The third day of action will provide the Indian athletes an opportunity to close the gap on the hosts Nepal in the medal tally.