Tripura lead on Day 2

Hosts dominate swimming and gymnastics, Manipur sweep judo
North East Games
A moment from a men’s sprint event during the North East Games in Agartala on Thursday. Picture by Parthajit Dutta
Agartala, Feb 6 : Tripura’s Jyotisankar Debnath and Manipur’s Surabala Debi emerged Northeast’s fastest man and woman bagging the coveted gold medals in the 100metre sprint, clocking the region’s best timing of 10.6 seconds and 12.6 seconds on the second day of the North East Games here today.
Tripura’s Sunita Jamatya was well on course to clinching the overall individual swimming championship by adding three more gold to her yesterday’s tally of two, out of which four were in individual events. Jamatya set afire the Raima Swimming Pool, neatly picking up three consecutive gold in the women’s 200metre breaststroke, 100metre butterfly and 400metre freestyle. Assam’s Sony Buragohain came close to her feat by capturing gold in 200metre backstroke, silver in the 400metre freestyle and bronze in the 200metre breaststroke.
In the men’s section, Assam’s Arindam Gogoi and Rajib Bora won gold and silver respectively in the 100metre butterfly and 200metre backstroke. But Tripura’s domination in the aquatic events continued as Malkash Mia, Saddam Hossain Podder and Kirtipada Jamatya bagged medals in other events with ease. Manipur’s L. Mahesh Singh won the gold in the men’s 200metre breaststroke and L. Bankim Singh secured bronze in 400metre freestyle.
Assam won two gold, two silver and three bronze, followed by Manipur with one medal each in the three sections. Assam, however, suffered a setback as the men’s hockey team lost by a solitary goal to Tripura in a group league match today.
Manipur made a clean sweep of all the seven gold in judo.
In the gymnastics team event, held in Netaji Subhash Regional Coaching Centre, Tripura reasserted their traditional supremacy by securing the gold with a whopping 359.35 points, followed by Assam’s silver with 166.15 points and Manipur’s bronze with 138.15 points.
In the individual championship, too, Tripura’s Ajay Kumar Dey and Santu Das bagged gold and silver respectively while Manipur’s H. Mikhel grabbed the bronze.
In the athletics events held in Dasharath Deb Stadium and Sports Complex, Assam and Tripura dominated the proceedings. Assam’s Pinki Shyam and Rajiv Tamuli bagged gold medals in the women’s 800metre and men’s shot put respectively while Pramila Bharali secured gold in women’s discus.
Tripura’s Liton Debbarma bagged gold in high jump and Ratna Khatun captured gold in women’s long jump.
Tripura sprinters Feroz Mia and Jahar Mia bagged the gold and the silver medals respectively in the men’s 800metre. Assam’s Pranjal Barua secured silver in the men’s 100metre sprint while Tripura’s Ratna Khatun bagged silver in the women’s event. Assam won another gold in javelin throw when National Games gold medallist Parag Jyoti Baishya hurled the javelin up to a distance of 64.68 metres but Manipur dominated the men’s 5,000metre with M.S. Singh and K.P. Singh winning gold and silver respectively.
In the overall medals tally in athletics, Tripura secured four gold, five silver and two bronze while Assam bagged four gold and two silver and two bronze.
In football, Assam drew with Meghalaya 1-1 and made an early exit from the group league stage. Defending champions Assam yesterday lost 1-2 against Nagaland.
In the football matches being held in Kailasahar, 180km from here, Tripura trounced minnows Sikkim 9-0 with striker Kiran Chhetri scoring five goals. Liton Mazumder and Biswabhanu Jamatya also contributed with two and one goal respectively. 
Manipur drubbed Arunachal Pradesh 6-1 in the day’s other match. However, in the women’s section, Tripura pulled off an upset by drawing goalless with Manipur while Sikkim routed Meghalaya 6-0.