Mouma Das after winning the singles gold in Colombo on Wednesday. (PTI)

Colombo: Achanta Sharath Kamal took a sweet revenge on defending champion and compatriot Soumyadeep Roy to claim the singles title even as Indian paddlers swept all the seven gold medals on offer in the discipline at the 10th SAF games on Wednesday.

Double Commonwealth Games champion Sharath Kamal, who lost to Roy in the last edition of the Games, posted a convincing 11-4, 11-3, 11-9, 11-9 win to pocket the crown.

National champion Mouma Das retained the women’s singles title after posting a 11-5, 11-6, 8-11, 11-4, 11-5 win over Sri Lanka’s Deepika Rodrigo at the St Thomas Stadium.

India thus finished with all the seven gold and four silver medals in the discipline, one silver less than last year.

It was an all-India affair in all the three doubles categories, and the men’s singles event. In men’s and women’s team event, India defeated the hosts.

Sharath Kamal won the maximum of four gold medals while Mouma bagged three gold and one silver.

Earlier on Thursday, fancied Poulami Ghatak failed to make it to the summit clash when she lost a gruelling match to Rodrigo, who won 11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11- 8.

Mouma defeated Rahila Kashif 11-7, 11-8, 12-10, 11-5 in the other semi-final.

Sharath Kamal got the better of Mohammed Asim Qureshi 11-3, 11-8, 11-13, 11-9, 11-6 while Roy thrashed Thilina Piyadasa 11-5, 11-8, 11-9, 12-10 in the men’s semi-finals.

In hockey, India thrashed Bangladesh 4-0 to maintain a clean slate. With convincing victories over Pakistan (2-0) and Sri Lanka (9-1) in their first two league matches, India now go into the final against arch-rivals Pakistan on Friday with their confidence sky high.

Indian boxers put up an improved performance to grab four gold medals, but still finished second best to arch-rivals Pakistan.

After the disappointing show in the last edition of the games at Islamabad where they had to be satisfied with only one gold, the Indians relied on their new style of throwing a plethora of straight punches, but the innovation seemed to have met with partial success only.

In 81kg light heavyweight, Indian youngster Dinesh Kumar pounded Bangaldesh’s Mohammed Qadir Sultan with lethal blows to win the one-sided final 25-5.

Harpreet Singh retained the heavyweight title when the referee stopped the final bout in the third round late on Tuesday night.

Harpreet, who had got a bronze in Melbourne, had established a convincing lead of 32-12 over Pakistan’s Tanveer Shaukat when the referee stepped in.

The country, however, had to be satisfied with the silver in the super heavyweight category, where the seasoned Verghese Johnson went down to Mirwaiz Khan of Pakistan 32-41 after an intensely fought final.

Commonwealth Games champion Akhil Kumar and Vijender Kumar were the other top finishers for India.

In an electrifying atmosphere, Akhil Kumar pipped Abid Ali Baloch of Pakistan 26:25 in the 54kg bantamweight category to clinch the yellow metal.

Vijender prevailed over Pakistan’s Allah Baksh 34-19 to win the gold medal in the 75kg category.

Indian men and women registered their second wins on the trot in Kabbadi.

The eves scripted a convincing victory over Sri Lanka by 36 points while the men’s team also quelled the host nation’s challenge with a 37 points victory margin.

Indian cyclists collected a silver and bronze in team time trial categories.

The Indian troika of CH Ramesh Worydevi, Chaoba Devi and Gurpreet Kaur finished second in women’s 30km team time trial clocking 51:07.60.

Sri Lanka won the gold with a timing of 49:59.60. Pakistan came third in 58:33.99.

Indian shooters claimed the team gold in women’s 50m rifle prone. The Indian team comprising of Meena, Raj Kumari and T. Pooja accumulated 1739 points to ensure a top podium finish at the shooting range. Sri lanka claimed the silver.

In 25m rapid-fire pistol, Indian marksmen accumulated a score of 1639 to take the second spot behind Pakistan, who shot 1652. The Sri Lankans (1435) got the bronze.

Meanwhile, India appear favourites despite missing several top names as the showpiece athletics event begins on Thursday.

With world No. 8 long jumper Anju Bobby George and middle-distance runner Pinki Pramanik leading the way, India, with a 65-member strong contingent, will be aiming to corner most of the booty at stake in the Sri Lankan capital.

(PTI)