Uttar Pradesh dominant in men's category in KIYG 2019

Uttar Pradesh's Mohammed Rafey and West Bengal's Prathista Samanta became the first gold medal winners of the Khelo India Youth Games 2019, emerging victorious in the men's and women's under-17 all-around artistic gymnastics events respectively here Tuesday.

Uttar Pradesh was dominant in the men's category with gymnasts Rafey and Raj Yadav grabbing gold and silver with scores of 68.25 and 67.50 respectively. Delhi's Tushar Kalyan clinched the bronze medal with an all-around score of 66.90. Tushar had won the bronze medal at the Khelo India School Games last year.

Pratishta staved off a challenge from Maharashtra's twin sisters Siddhi and Riddhi Hattekar to emerge on top in the women's under-17 competition. It was her vault that helped to keep her nose ahead of the Aurangabad twins. She scored 13.00 on the vault to compensate for the uneven bars score of 7.10.

The results:

Men's under-17 all-around: 1. Mohammed Rafey (Uttar Pradesh) 68.25 (floor 11.90, pommel horse 9.75, roman rings 11.05, vault 12.40, parallel bars 11.30, horizontal bar 11.85); 2. Raj Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) 67.50; 3. Tushar Kalyan (Delhi) 66.90.

Women's under-17 all-around: 1. Pratishta Samanta (West Bengal) 42.05 (vault 13.00, uneven bars 7.10, beam 11.30, floor 10.65); 2. Siddhi Hatekar (Maharashtra) 40.85, 3. Riddhi Hattekar (Maharashtra) 40.45.

(With inputs from agencies.)