CM Trophy: Fencer V Santhosh upsets experienced Saravanan to clinch Epee gold

Santhosh winner of Mens Epee College boys fencing
Santhosh winner of Mens Epee College boys fencing event

Chennai's Shreenithi Natesan and Thirunelveli's Nitheesh MS made a golden splash in the swimming pool

Fencer V Santhosh of Chengalpattu lived up to his own expectations to beat his experienced teammate TR Sri Saravanan 15-12 in the College boys Epee final to clinch the gold medal in the CM Trophy 2024 here on Sunday.

Santhosh, who was seeded third in the knock-out draw after losing one match in the pool, had upset second seeded M Gokul 15-13 in the semi-finals.

"My semi-final opponent was a left-hander. Playing against a left-handed opponent is always tough for me. It was a very close match but in the last sequence, I managed to take a three points lead and won 15-13. My opponent in the final was a very experienced player and I am happy that I could match his game," said Santhosh.

"Overall it was a very good experience for me, taking home so much match experience in addition to the prize money and certificate," the SRM college student added.

Chengalpattu's Maariswaran bagged the college boys Foil gold, beating Kanniyakumari's SK Arvind 15-5 in the final.

The 2024 CM Trophy is one of the largest grassroot initiatives and this edition has attracted over 33,000 participants from 38 districts and will compete across five categories – school, college students, public, government employees and differently-abled persons -- in 36 sports disciplines. Prior to the state meet, district level competitions were held across the state in which over 11 lakh players participated.

Big splash

Chennai's Shreenithi Natesan and Thirunelveli's Nitheesh MS made a golden splash in the swimming pool winning the girls and boys 200m Individual medley gold medals, respectively.

Shreenithi won the gold with a time of 2:30.12s while Nitheesh stopped the clock at 2:15.69s to claim the honours.

Overall, Chennai won three gold, four silver and 2 bronze while Tirunelveli bagged five gold and four bronze from the pool on Sunday.

Earlier, K Rakshitha of Thiruvallur and R Ragavi of Mayiladuthurai came up with impressive performances to clinch the gold medals school girls weightlifting competition in their respective weight categories here on Sunday.

Rakshitha lifted a total of 105 kg (Snatch 55, Clean & Jerk 50) to lift the 49kg gold medal ahead of J Madhumitha of Namakkal (99 kg) and S V Meena of Kanniyakumari (98 kg).

In the 55kg weight category, Ragavi lifted 57kg in snatch and 79kg in Clean & Jerk for a total of 136kg to claim the gold medal. Silver: S Nithyasri of Vellore (131kg) and A Sivasankari of Ranipet (130) took home the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

The 2024 CM Trophy is one of the largest grassroot initiatives and this edition has attracted over 33,000 participants from 38 districts and will compete across five categories – school, college students, public, government employees and differently-abled persons -- in 36 sports disciplines. Prior to the state meet, district level competitions were held across the state in which over 11 lakh players participated.

In the school tennis competition, Tiruppur's Sree Syleswari clinched the double crown by winning the girls singles and then teaming up with Sree Sasthayini to clinch the girls doubles gold medals.

Coimbatore district bagged both the gold medals in boys section with Rohith G winning the singles title while the combination of C Jai Charan and S Jaiwanth bagging the boys doubles top spot.

In carrom, Coimbatore's S Akshya Kumar and R Naveen Prasad claimed the gold medal in college boys doubles category with Chennai's Abdur Raheem and A Susaraf taking home the silver medal.

The Results – Day 17

VENUE: Olympic Academy, JNS, Chennai

Sport – Fencing

Category/Event – College Boys – Epee

Final: V Santhosh beat TR Sri Saravanan 15-12. Gold: V Santhosh (Chengalpattu); Silver: TR Sri Saravanan(Chengalpattu); Bronze: M Gokul (Chengalpattu); Bronze: K Kavin (Salem).

Category/Event - College Boys - Foil

Final: Maariswaran beat SK Aravind 15-5. Gold: Maariswaran (Chengalpattu); Silver: SK Aravind (Kanniyakumari); Bronze: S Kavin (Namakkal); Bronze: NRS Praveen (Chengalpattu).

VENUE: AGB Complex, Chennai

Sport – Swimming

School Boys Under 19 200 LC Meter IM

Gold: Nitheesh MS, Thirunelveli (2:15:69); Silver: Raj S, Chengalpattu (2:19:19); Bronze: Sarvepalli Sai Aditya, Chennai (2:19:38)

School Girls Under 19 200 LC Meter IM

Gold: Shreenithi Natesan, Chennai (2:30:12); Silver: Roshini B, Madurai (2:35:24); Bronze: Akriti Malini Sabat, Chengalpattu (2:45:35).

VENUE: Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai

Sport - Weightlifting

Event/Category -School Girls 49KG

Gold: K Rakshitha (Thiruvallur) - Snatch - 55, Clean & Jerk - 50, Total – 105; Silver: J Madhumitha (Namakkal) - Snatch - 42, Clean & Jerk - 57, Total – 99; Bronze: S V Meena (Kanniyakumari) - Snatch - 42, Clean & Jerk - 56, Total - 98.

Event/Category - School Girls 55KG

Gold: R Ragavi (Mayiladuthurai) - Snatch - 57, Clean & Jerk - 79, Total – 136; Silver: S Nithyasri (Vellore) - Snatch - 54, Clean & Jerk - 77, Total – 131; Bronze: A Sivasankari (Ranipet) - Snatch - 58, Clean & Jerk - 72, Total – 130.

VENUE: SDAT Tennis Stadium, Chennai

Sport – Tennis

.Singles - School Girls

Gold: Sree Syleswari (Tiruppur); Silver: Savitha Bhuvaneswaran (Chennai); Bronze: Haritha Shree Venkatesh (Thiruvallur).

Doubles – School Girls

Gold: Sree Syleswari & Sree Sasthayini (Tiruppur); Silver: Joshitha. S & Heera Niharikha (Chennai); Bronze: Sanmitha Harini L & Tanusshri MS.

Singles – School Boys

Gold: Rohith G (Coimbatore); Silver: Thirumurugan V (Karur); Bronze: Levin (Thirunelveli).

Doubles – School Boys

Gold: Jai Charan C & Jaiwanth. S (Coimbatore); Silver: P Abishek & P Abilash (Dharmapuri); Bronze:Sai Karan A & Niven Frankie.R (Salem).

VENUE: District Sports Complex, Trichy

Carrom – College Boys Doubles

Gold: S Akshay Kumar & R Naveen Prasad (Coimbatore); Silver: Abdur Raheem & A Musaraf (Chennai); Bronze: M Bharath & B Sriradhan (Thiruvallur).

santhosh_podium wins_fencing_mens epee gold

Santhosh, who won the fencing gold with other competitors on the podium

Action from the School boys an girls competition at the AGB Complex Swimming arena on Sunday - CM Trophy

Action from the School boys and girls competition at the AGB Complex Swimming arena on Sunday

Action from the school girls weightlifting event in JNIS - Chennai on Sunday

Action from the school girls weightlifting event in JNIS

CM Trophy - Sree Syleswari clinched the double crown by winning the girls singles and then teaming up with Sree Sasthayini

Sree Syleswari clinched the girls singles and teaming up with Sree Sasthayini won the doubles crown