ISLAMABAD, April 1: India continued to show their might in the SAF Games with a haul of 14 top of the line medals on a day Pakistan grab five gold.

The Pakistani oarsmen shone nice and bright on the calm waters of Rawal Lake, picking up from where they had left off on Wednesday, with two gold strikes in a serene setting while the weightlifters also sprang into action by winning one gold.

Later, the karatekas snatched another two to complete the haul. Akbar Ali with a total of 257.5 in the 62kgs category earned Pakistan the first gold in weightlifting at the Aabpara Community Centre.

Chinthana Geetal Vidanage of Sri Lanka was second with 257.5 kgs and Bangladesh's Hamidul Islam third by totalling 255 kgs. India's Vicky Batta took the top position in the 56kgs category as he totaled 252.5 kgs with a host of Games records falling.

Snatches of 107.5, 112.5 and 115 kgs and total of 252.5 kgs by Batta, snatch of 110 kgs and a 137.5 kgs jerk by Ishtiaq Gahfoor of Pakistan, who bagged a silver, were all new records.

The Indians found a major chunk of their gold at the new shooting range of the Pakistan Sports Complex where their marksmen continued to hit the bull's eye, sweeping all the six finals contested.

More gold lay in the pool for their swimmers who made it four out of four, breaking two Games records on the way while the shuttlers proved rude guests edging out Pakistan 3-2 in the men's team final at the Rodham Hall. India defeated the hosts at table tennis too, collecting a 3-0 victory in the women's team decider.

Having won four gold on Wednesday, the Pakistani rowers added two more to that total by winning the single sculls lightweight and coxless four events. Asian Games gold medallist Muhammad Akram went past the finish in single sculls lightweight in 8:09:25 followed by Sri Lankan Kavinda Mewan Gunawardena and Afghanistan's Muhammad Ashraf for his second gold in two days.

He had bagged the single sculls open on Wednesday. The Pakistani team of Muhammad Farooq, Amanullah, Romay Khan and Adeel Sultan combined to take the honours in the coxless four clocking 6:19:26 ahead of the Indian and Sri Lankan quartets.

But India spoilt the home team's bid of making a clean sweep of all seven finals by snatching the Coxless Pair gold, Jenil Krishnan and Inderpal Singh beating Abbas Shah Shajjar and Ali Maqbool with a time of 6:58:95. Sri Lankan duo of Nirmal Diluk Aluwihare and Mohamed Usman Ali Fatharally was third.

Rizwanul Haq, Acting secretary of Pakistan Rowing Federation (PRF) told Dawn that the event they lost was actually their strong point.

"We had expected Abbas and Ali to win but after making a good start they faltered." The two were appearing in their first international competition.

Pakistan's Abdul Razik, featuring in the under-65 kg category in karate bagged gold, overpowering Nepal's Kushal Shrestha and then Hamayun Mustafa did his country proud by emerging victor in the under-75 kgs class, leaving Chimanda Manohara of Sri Lanka with a silver.

However the Islanders got a gold through Duminda Maniatthuge in the over-80 class. It was another rewarding day for the Indian marksmen who swept all six finals contested on Wednesday with ace Jaspal Rana claiming two of them.

Jaspal, who had a haul of eight medals in the Kathmandu Games captured the 25m rapid fire pistol gold with a super grand total of 670.9 leaving home shooters Afsar Khan and Zahid Ali content with a silver and bronze.

In the team event final of 25m rapid fire pistol, Jaspal together with BL Dhaka and Pandit Ronak annexed the gold, totaling 1700. The Pakistani trio of Zahid Ali, Afsar Khan and Riaz Kashif came in second while Sri Lanka were third.

More gold came through TC Plangappa, Faridudin and Sanjeev Rajput who teamed up to win the rifle 3x40 crown while Sanjeev Rajput landed the top medal in the 50m small bore free rifle competition with his compatriot Fariduddin picking up the silver and Bangladesh's Shoyebuz Zaman taking bronze.

India also had gold medals in both the individual and team competitions of the trap event through Zoravar Singh Sandhu and the team of Zoravar, Birendeep Sodhi and Ranjit Nobis.

Two records fell by the wayside in swimming, Divase Mandar of India bettering the 1500m freestyle mark set by country-fellow J. Abhijit at the 1993 Games in Dhaka.

He was home in 16:30.83 in an event that saw Pakistanis Mumtaz Ahmed and Mehboob Ali take the silver and bronze. Then the Indian team of Dipes Bairagi, Gairik Bardhan, Akbar Ali Mir and TA Sujith, shattered the 4x100 medley relay record of 04:04.47 set at Kathmandu 1999 by their compatriots, timing 04:03.85 India, as they did on Wednesday, captured four gold medals in the pool, Rehan Poncha doing it right again to bag his third gold in as many days.

He swam to glory in the 400m individual medley in a time of 04:45.27 leaving Pakistanis Zulfiqar Ali and Nisar Ahmed behind. The 50m backstroke was a one-two finish for the Indians where Arun Venkataram struck gold with a time of 00:28.59 and Dipes Bairagi clinched the silver followed by Sri Lanka's A Asela Pradeep Kumara Perera who grabbed the bronze.

Pakistan and India stayed on course for a potentially mouthwatering contest in the volleyball final, after both made that last four stage at the Liaquat Gymnasium.

The home side scored a tough 25-19, 25-18, 25-18 victory over Sri Lanka in the league match to set up a meeting in Friday's semi-finals with Bangladesh. India on the other hand looked more impressive in their 25-13, 25-14, 25-9 win over Bangladesh and will now play Sri Lanka in the pre-final, also on Friday.

In another match, Maldives had to draw in all their energies to overcome a fighting Afghanistan 28-26, 32-30, 30-28. Meanwhile, at the Roshan Khan Squash courts, Pakistan's Mansoor Zaman and Shahid Zaman advanced to Friday's final, downing their Indian opponents in straight games.

Mansoor outplayed Saurav Goshal 9-4, 9-0, 9-1 in just over 20 minutes and Shahid eliminated Ritwik Bhattacharya 9-2, 10-8, 9-4. On the women's side, India's Joshana Chinappa, tipped favourite to win gold, qualified for the final with a 9-6, 9-2, 9-0 stroll against Pakistan's Maria Toor Pakay.

In the decider she will play compatriot Mekhala Subedar, a 9-1, 9-5, 9-0 winner over Muqaddas Ashraf.

In a crucial football match played under lights at the Jinnah Stadium, Pakistan, who needed to beat Bangladesh, did exactly that through an 85th minute penalty strike from Muhammad Essa to check into semifinals.

The penalty was awarded after Farooq Shah was fouled in the penalty area and Essa did the rest for his third goal of the tournament.

Medals standing

India 27 6 4 37