Khade shines as Indian swimmers steal the show
Gagan wins 400 free with meet record
Virdhawal Khade bettered two meet records as Indian swimmers stole the show in the 11th South Asian Games here on Saturday.
Swimmers, who swelled their overall tally to eight gold, five silver and one bronze on Friday, clinched four gold and five silver medals on the second day of aquatics events at the National Swimming Complex in Mirpur.
Indians maintain their stay at the top with a whooping 57 gold, 28 silver and 14 bronze medals.
Olympian Khade rewrote two meet records — in the 50M butterfly and 50 freestyle — en route to his back-to-back golds.
In the 50 fly, the Kolhapur swimmer clocked 25.54 to better his own record of 25.97, set four years ago in Colombo. Khade team-mate Arjun Muralidharan earned the silver with a timing of 26.15s, while local lad Mohammad Anik Islam settled for the bronze in 26.61.
Khade, who won six golds four years ago in Colombo, then swum the freestyle in 23.73 seconds to become the fastest swimmer of the meet and in the process he bettered the meet record held by compatriot Sebastian Xavier (23.89).
Aaron D’Souza finished second (24.42) and Mohammad Mahfizur Rahman of Bangladesh (24.53).
Richa Mishra claimed the fourth gold for Indians when she timed 1:05.74 in the 100 fly to touch the tape ahead of team-mate Vandita Dhariyal (1:08.40).
Gagan A P completed Indian gold glut by winning the 400 freestyle with a new meet record. Gagan clocked 4:04.85 overcoming team-mate Mandar Divase (4:07.41) challenge. Gagan erased Rehan Poncha time of 4:05.94 set in Colombo. Balkrishnan Badrinath (59.08) settled for silver in the 100 backstroke.
Indian shooters continued to reign supreme and clinched both the gold medals up for grabs in the 50M three position event.
At the National Shooting Complex range 15-year-old Tejaswini Muley was the star Indian performer clinching both the gold medals, including the team gold.
India also bagged a silver taking the shooters’ tally to 17 gold, nine silver and four bronze medals. In the women’s 50M three position (3x20) individual event, Tejaswini shot 568 out of 600 to reign supreme. Another Indian Hema Khatri Chetri bagged the second place which was determined in a shoot-off.
A cumulative score of 1687 by Tejaswini, Hema and Anuja Jung (555) earned India the second successive gold in the team event of 50M three position. India started their athletics campaign by clinching three gold, three silver and two bronze medals.
Ibrar wins gold
Abdul Najeeb Qureshi brought smiles in the Indian camp when the Hyderabadi sprinter recorded 21.16 seconds in the 200M for the gold.
India then had a roll with Balamurugan Thiyagarajan clinching the 400M hurdles gold clocking 52.24 and Avina Thomas Aruparayil (52.52) pocketing the bronze.
Long jumper Mohammad Ibrar won India the third gold with a 7.44-metre jump. In discus throw, Simranjeet Singh earned the third silver for India with a throw of 49.18.
Indian’s Jauna Murmu took bronze in the 200M, clocking 24.87.
Indian wrestlers spiced up Indian medal tally with three three gold medals. Pradeep Kumar knocked down Pakistani Mohammad Salman for the gold in the 66kg category. Rajeev Sharma claimed the 84kg title and Hitesh reigned supreme in the 120kg category.
India bagged three gold and two bronze medals in wushu. Ravinder Kumar (men’s 70kg), Sanathoi Devi Yumnam (women’s 48kg) and Sandhyarani Devi Wangkhem (women’s 60kg) clinched the top honours. Shankar Subedi (men’s 60kg) and Joy Singh (men’s 65kg) clinched the bronze medals.
