Sejwal sets pool ablaze
Olympian breaks 100M breaststroke record
Olympian Sandeep Sejwal improved meet record in the 100M breaststroke as Indians further swelled their medal tally by adding four gold, one silver and a bronze on third day of the aquatics events at the 11th South Asian Games here on Sunday.
With 10 gold, 12 silver and eight bronze they won on the penultimate day of competition, India now have 129 medals (67 gold, 40 silver and 22 bronze).
Pakistan are distant second with 17 gold, 23 silver and 27 bronze. Hosts Bangladesh closed in on Pakistan for the second spot with 14 gold, 19 silver and 44 bronze.
Sejwal, who had earlier bettered the 200M breaststroke record, today clocked 1:05.01 to finish the 100M breaststroke competition and shattered the previous one of 1:07.73.
Sejwal was followed by compatriot Puneet Rana (1:06.74), while local lad Mohammad Kamal Hossain (1:07.32) took away the bronze.
BM Badrinath timed 27.63 to clinch gold in 50M backstroke, while compatriot Rohit Havaldar (28.35S) bagged the bronze. Sri Lanka’s Heshan Bandara Unamboowe (27.93S) claimed the silver.
India’s third gold came in 100M butterfly event when Arjun Muralidharan (56.86S) finished ahead of Sri Lankan Conrad Anthony Francis (58.44S). In women’s 50M backstroke, Fariha Zaman clocked 33.00S en route to the gold medal as Sri Lanka’s Walakanda Kankanamge (34.56) and Pakistan’s Kiran Khan (34.89) bagged the silver and bronze, respectively.
In athletics, Bibin Mathew clinched the top honours in 400 metres event as Indian athletes picked three gold, five silver and four bronze medals on second day of their campaign.
On a day when Lankan athletes dominated the track and field events bagging four gold, India’s bright spots were Mathew, javelin thrower Kashinath Naik and G Gayathry, who dashed Sumita Rani’s for gold in 100M hurdles. Pakistani athletes bagged two gold medals.
In the men’s 400M, India bagged one gold and one bronze. Mathew clocked 47.25S for the gold, while Prasanna Sampath of Sri Lanka took the silver with a timing of 47.36S. In javelin throw, Naik had a tough contest with Muhammad Imran of Pakistan before the Indian with a throw of 74.27M was adjudged the winner.
India also bagged the bronze through Samarjeet Singh who threw a distance of 71.65. Imran had a throw of 73.38M. In women’s 100M hurdles, Gayathry (13.98S) beat local challenger Sumita (13.99) for the gold medal. Sahana Kumari bagged silver in women’s high jump with an effort of 1.79M. India had to be content with a silver and bronze medals in the men’s 110M hurdles. Sandeep Parmar (14.76) and P Muthuswamy (14.88) bagged the silver and bronze respectively.
India bag silver
In hockey, senior duo of Dharamvir Singh and Varinderjeet Singh misfired in tie-breaker as India had to content with a silver after going down to arch-rivals Pakistan 3-4.
In shooting, Surendra Singh Rathod shot his way to the record books, scoring 1172 in the 50M rifle three position which earned him his third gold as Indian shooters clinched both the gold medals up for grab. India pocketed two gold and one bronze on the concluding day of shooting to sign off with 19-9-5.
Rathod clinched his fourth gold when Team India stood tall with 3455 points.
Hariom Singh and Devesh Panwar were the other two members of the Indian team that clinched the 50M rifle three positions gold.
