Sport - Sports : General

Manipur stunned

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Punjab scored a stunning win over holder Manipur to take the first gold to be decided in the 18th National senior fencing championship, which got underway here on Thursday.

Punjab’s creditable showing came in the women’s sabre team final as it pushed Manipur to the second spot with a superb 15-13 win in the final. Manipur, which had won all but one of the 12 gold medals in the last Nationals in Bangalore, had defeated Kerala 15-8 in the second semifinal to set up a title-round clash against Punjab, which had defeated Assam 15-8 in the first semifinals.

However, in the final, the Manipuri side found the going tough as Kawaljit Kaur gave Punjab an easy 5-0 win over P. Nandini Devi in the first bout. In the second, the honours were even as Dina finished with a 5-5 scoreline against Sandeep Kaur. N. Harina Devi was truly in her elements as she won against Kamalpreet Shukla in the third bout. But with Kamalpreet having scored five points against 8 of Harina, Punjab was thus provided with the required total of 15 points to close out a brilliant win against Manipur. Kerala and Assam, the losing semifinalists, were both awarded a bronze each.

Later, Indian Army took the men’s epee gold defeating Tamil Nadu 15-9. In the semifinals, the Army side had defeated Uttaranchal 15-13 while Tamil Nadu had beaten holder Manipur 15-14. The results: Men: Epee (team): Final: Indian Army bt Tamil Nadu 15-9. Semifinals: Indian Army bt Uttaranchal 15-13; Tamil Nadu bt Manipur 15-14

Women: Sabre (team): Final: Punjab bt Manipur 15-13. Semifinals: Manipur bt Kerala 15-8; Punjab bt Assam 15-8.

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