Haryana surges past Maharashtra to top medal tally in Khelo India Youth Games

Haryana scooped as many as 12 gold on Day 4 of the Khelo India Youth Games here on Monday to surge past Maharashtra to the top of the medal table.

Pumped up by four gold in kabaddi, three each in archery and athletics and one each in cycling and gymnastics, Haryana amassed 17 gold after Day 4 to catapult from sixth to top spot.

Maharashtra picked up only four gold on Monday for a total of 16 to slip to the second position. It has a total of 71 medals.

Defending champions Maharashtra were well served by U-21 gymnast Aditee Ajit Dandekar and their 4x100m relay quartet but they could only watch as Haryana went for the kill across sports.

Haryana dominated kabaddi but were surprisingly taken to the wire by Himachal Pradesh in the women's U-21 final. The hill state rallied from a six-point deficit at half-time to tie the scores at 27-27 at the end of regulation time.

Last year's runners-up Haryana had to dig deep into the reserves of their experience to sneak home in extra-time.

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