THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala flexed its muscles on the last day of the athletics competition of the 35th National Games at the University stadium here winning five gold medals.
With this the host took its gold tally to 13 from athletics, four more than Services, who finished in second place.
The highlight of the day was the women’s 200 metre event which saw a neck and neck battle between Asian championships bronze medalist Dutee Chand of Odisha and Kerala duo of Santhini V and Anilda Thomas.
Sending a shockwave, it was Santhini who bagged the gold clocking in at 24:11s. Santhini edged her teammate Anilda (24.27s) and Dutee (24.56s)in a last gasp surge.
In the glamour events of 800m, Kerala’s Tintu Luka and Sajeesh Joseph had easy wins.Returning from the off-season, P T Usha’s protege dashed to the finishing line in 2:01.36, setting a new meet record.
In the men’s half-mile race, Sajeesh Joseph lived upto expectations and finished 0.20 seconds ahead of Services’ Jinson Johnson, who bagged silver. Sajeesh recorded 1:53.68. Kerala-lad Mohammed Afsal won bronze.
The hosts’ girls dominated in the triple jump with Sheena N V, Anitha Babu and Prajusha M A all winning laurels in that order.