Himachal win 11 medals, finish 24th - Shimla Now

Himachal Pradesh bagged four gold, two silver and five bronze medals in the National Games that concluded on Thursday, to finish 24th among 34 participating states and union territories. The hill state had finished 24th in the last National Games as well but the medal haul this time had gone up from nine to 11. "It's one of our best performances in the National Games. We won four gold medals ndash; one each in kabaddi and handball, and two in athletics," said Rajesh Bhandari, secretary, State Olympics Association.

Incidentally, women athletes won all four gold medals. Seema, the star performer for the state, bagged two gold medals in the gruelling 5,000 m and 10,000 m events. The Himachal girls outshone their opponents in kabaddi and handball to win two more gold medals for the state. "The girls did exceptionally well. Seema has been brilliant for a while now, and so have been the kabaddi girls. What surprised us was the fantastic performance of our women handball team ndash; they defeated their opponents in almost one-sided matches," said Bhandari.

This was perhaps one of the best performances of the state in the National Games but it continues to be closer to the bottom in the medal tally.