Delhi's Mohit Sherawat battled through a dislocated shoulder to clinch the gold medal in men's 81kg judo at the National Games 2022 on Saturday. (More Sports News)
Mohit needed to protect his dislocated right shoulder but instead of defending to avoid further injury, he went for broke and won both his semifinal and final bouts within the first few seconds at the Mahatma Mandir Complex.
Mohit, who had won the Senior Nationals title in Lucknow earlier this year, had dislocated his shoulder midway through the quarterfinal against Sarabjit Singh of Punjab.
“I was leading by a point then. So I decided to play it safe because if I had called for medical attention, I would have had to concede. But he made a mistake and I got a throw. In the semifinal and final, I decided to just go for a throw if I get the right grip and it worked wonderfully for me,” said Mohit Sherawat.
The Delhi judoka said his next target is to make it to the Asian Games next year. “Indian judokas have started doing well on the international circuit. We even won medals in the Commonwealth Games this year. For me, my immediate target is to play the Asian Games next year,” said Mohit, who now trains at the SAI NCOE at Bhopal.
In other bouts, Lal Humhimi bagged Mizoram's first gold medal of the Games when she defeated the formidable Pincky Balhara of Delhi in the 52kg final. Lalhumhimi had registered a tough win over Simran of Haryana in the semifinals and waited for an opportunity to find the right grip for a throw against Balhara.
“Me and Pincky have faced each other many times. The last time I had lost to her. So, this time I was a lot more determined,” she said. Madhya Pradesh's Yamini Mourya defeated Haryana's Savitri in the women's 57kg final, while Vishal Ruhil of Haryana clinched the men's 73kg gold by defeating statemate Jatin.
UP, Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka In Hockey Semis
Uttar Pradesh pulled off a 5-4 win against West Bengal in a thrilling penalty shootout to progress to the hockey semifinals on Saturday. Formidable Haryana and Karnataka also booked their berths in the last 4, beating Tamil Nadu and Gujarat 3-0 and 11-2 respectively.
In a late match, Maharashtra scored thrice and conceded one against Jharkhand to join them in the semifinals. Maharashtra will now take on Uttar Pradesh, while Haryana face off against Karnataka for a place in the men's summit clash on Monday.
The women's semifinals will be played on Sunday with Haryana taking on Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh meeting Punjab. Tamil Nadu's frontline failed to deliver when it mattered most, missing easy chances even as their defence managed to hold the Haryana strike force.
Their keeper Dhinakaran Venkatajalapathy was very impressive, pulling off several saves, including a penalty stroke in the third quarter of the game. Haryana, however, went ahead in the ninth minute, when skipper Bharat slapped home from close range.
Defender Mandeep Mor converted Haryana's fifth penalty corner to make it 2-0 in their favour. In the 50th minute, Abhishek put it beyond Tamil Nadu’s reach, adding one more. Karnataka's Sheshe Gowda BM hogged the limelight, netting only the second hat-trick of the Games as they thrashed hosts Gujarat.
Karnataka played well below their normal game, not wanting to risk injury to their key players ahead of the semifinals. Goals came at regular intervals and halfway through Karnataka had a cushion of 6-1.
Gowda BM (3), Mohammed Raheel Moussen, Pranam Gowda YM Harish Mutagar (two each), Nachappa, S V Sunil (one each) scored for Karnataka, while Shyamprakash Yadav, Himalay Thakur reduced the margin for the host.
