GANDHINAGAR: Table toppers Services completed their National Games campaign in a blaze of glory, winning five gold medals in the boxing ring here on Wednesday.
While Services sent out five winners from among six boxing finalists, Haryana were left disappointed as only four of their eight pugilists emerged winners on Wednesday.
With Nikhil Dubey, the lone Maharashtra finalist, claiming an emotional 75kg class gold, the Western Indian state was able to take the second spot on the medal table behind Services, who finished with 61 gold, 35 silver and 32 bronze medals.
Nikhil realised his late coach Dhananjay Tiwary's dreams by pocketing the yellow metal with a 5-0 victory over lesser-known Malsawmitluanga of Mizoram in the men's middleweight final. Coach Tiwary died in a road accident on Tuesday when on his way here to watch his ward in the finals.
In Bhavnagar, Kerala completed a volleyball double, winning both the men and women gold medals.
Kerala men defeated Tamil Nadu 25-23, 28-26, 27-25 to clinch the last gold medal on offer in the Games.
Earlier, Kerala won the women's volleyball gold with a straight set victory over West Bengal. The second set was thrilling as it was played over several extra points before Kerala closed it at 36-34.
At the Mahatma Mandir here, the Services juggernaut was well served by two-time Commonwealth Games medallist Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg), Etash Khan Muhammed (60kg), Akash (67kg), Sanjeet (92kg) and Narender (+92kg) in winning five boxing gold medals on the final day.
The featherweight Hussamuddin banked on brilliant counter punches and combinations to beat Haryana's Sachin Siwach 3-1 and lay his hands on the gold. The Telangana native cleverly defended himself from the World Youth champion's aggression before seizing the momentum with clean punches.
Reigning Asian champion Sanjeet, determined to make his National Games debut a successful one after a rather unlucky CWG campaign, forced the referee to give his statemate Naveen (Haryana) a standing count of eight before clinching the bout with authority.
Earlier, National championship silver medallists Ankit Sharma (51kg) and Minakshi (52kg) boosted Haryana's gold haul by winning the men and women's flyweight finals respectively.
Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (Assam) got her jabs and combination punches working to perfection against Haryana's Saweety Boora to cap her National Games debut with a memorable gold.
Haryana and Assam sent out two winners each while Punjab's Simranjeet Kaur took a redeeming gold in the 60kg category.
"I wanted to test myself in the new weight category. It isn't easy to come back after an injury but I pushed myself to be match ready for the Asian Championships,” an elated Lovlina said.
Earlier, former Asian Youth champion Ankushita Boro got Assam's campaign to a flying start by clinching the gold medal in a one-sided women's 66kg welterweight final against fellow Northeast boxer Alena Thounaojam (Manipur).
After a forgettable show at the Tokyo Games, Simranjeet did well to win gold with a clinical 4-0 victory in the women's lightweight final over Haryana's Jaismine Lamboria, who looked a pale shadow of herself in the opening round.
In the women's 57kg featherweight bout, Punjab's Mandeep Kaur paid the price for starting defensively as Haryana's Poonam gave herself a clear lead after the first two rounds to pocket the contest by a 4-1 margin.
