National Games: Gold eludes Babu as Goa win three silver and bronze in modern pentathlon

Panaji: There was a rush of medals for Goa, four in all, in modern pentathlon, but there was no frenzied celebration as the athletes missed out on gold.
Till the start of the modern pentathlon events, Goa had picked up three medals; two gold and a bronze. But Saturday saw the addition of four medals, which included three silver, all involving Goa’s star athlete Babu Arjun Gaonkar, and another team bronze.
Winner of Goa’s first gold medal when the National Games were held at home in 2023, Babu started as favourite in the laser run individual men's category. He had a slow start, and even though he made up with some terrific movements, he only ended up winning the silver medal, finishing just six seconds behind local lad Saksham Pratap Singh.
Lal Singh, also from Uttarakhand, had to settle for the bronze medal.
In the laser run men's team event, Goa again finished behind Uttarakhand. Babu, Harichandra Shambu Velip and Suraj Nomee Velip did push the hosts, but with Saksham, Lal and Neeraj Negi all in fine form, it was no surprise that the home team picked up gold.
Goa’s third silver came in the laser run mixed relay. Again, it were Uttarakhand who won gold, ahead of Babu and Neha Naguesh Gaunkar.
The lone bronze for Goa was won by Neha, Ankita Anand Velip and Vaishnavi Suresh Waddar in the laser run women's team category. Uttarakhand finished on top, while Jharkhand took the silver medal.
Modern pentathlon involves athletes compete in swimming, fencing, horse riding (show jumping) and laser run (combination of running and pistol shooting).
Services currently lead the medal standings with 66 medals - 39 gold, 14 silver and 13 bronze. Karnataka have 58 medals (30 gold, 12 silver and 16 bronze) in second spot. Nagaland, Bihar, Puducherry and Sikkim are the only four states yet to register a gold medal in the competition.
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