National Games 2022: Bhavani Devi wins hat-trick of gold medals

GANDHINAGAR: Tokyo Olympic fencer Bhavani Devi won the women's sabre competition at the National Games 2022 in Gandhinagar's Mahatma Mandir on Friday, earning her the third consecutive gold medal.

Tamil Nadu's Bhavani Devi beat Jagmeet Kaur of Punjab 15-3 in the final.

She also won gold medals in the 2011 and 2015 editions. Kerala's Christy Jose Josna and Manipuri Laishram Abi Devi won the bronze medals.

Fellow Olympian Elavenil Valarivan won the gold medal in the women's rifle shooting, edging out Karnataka's Tillotama Sen 16-10. West Bengal's Mehuli Ghosh took the bronze. Gujarat's star Elavanil Valarivan began the final rather slowly and moved to the top spot after the second series.

The leader board kept changing till the last shot in the fifth series and Elavenil managed to pip Mehuli Ghosh by 0.3 points to set up a gold medal match with top-ranked Tilottama Sen. In the final, Elavenil Valarivan took an early 4-0 lead.

Tilottama tried to keep pace by winning a couple of points at regular intervals but lost nevertheless.

In athletics at IIT, Gandhinagar, nine National Games records fell during the day. Munita Prajapati (Uttar Pradesh), daughter of a construction labourer, and 17-year-old Parvej Khan (Services) took centrestage. Munita set the first record of this edition in the women's 20km walk, clocking a commendable 1:38.20.