SMOOTH SAILING: Pooja R. Alva of Karnataka, who won the women's 200m butterfly event. — PHOTO: RITU RAJ KONWAR

GUWAHATI: Karnataka reaped a good harvest of four gold medals on a chilly day which saw only one record being rewritten in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay event in the 33rd National Games at the Dr. Zakir Hussain Aquatic Complex here on Tuesday.

The day also saw Delhi mermaid Richa Mishra being beaten twice. First it was Pooja Alva of Karnataka in a hotly contested 200m butterfly and later it was Lekha Kamath of Maharashtra in the 50m breaststroke for women.

The day began with the Karnataka twosome of Rehan Poncha and Srinand Srinivas making it one-two in the men's 200m butterfly stroke. The good beginning gave the Karnataka contingent the right momentum as three more gold medals followed. Pooja R. Alva, trailing Richa till the last 50m, surged forward in the final 20m to hand the Delhi lady her second defeat in as many days. Poncha clocked 2:07.41 while Pooja timed 2:24.24s.

The Karnataka quartet of Srinivas, V. Abhishek, Poncha and Rohit Havaldar proved too good for the rest of the field in winning the relay gold. The foursome's time of 8:09.80s eclipsed the previous record of 8:11.18 set by Andhra Pradesh in 2002.

If Richa failed to give Delhi the gold medal, young Sandeep Sejwal rose to the occasion to win the 50m breaststroke in 30.56s. Punjab's Puneet Rana tried his best but had to finish second with a time of 30.74s. Sejwal's teammate Rohit Kumar was third.

Lekha Kamath of Maharashtra took the 50m breaststroke clocking 36.28s. The race also saw Richa being relegated to the fourth spot behind M. Mini of Kerala and M.S. Divya of Andhra Pradesh.

In waterpolo, Services, Bengal and Kerala moved into the final round-robin league to decide the first three positions in the men's section. The women's semifinals would see Kerala playing Maharashtra and Karnataka challenging Delhi.

The results:

Men: 200m butterfly: 1. Rehan Poncha (Kar) 2: 07.41s, 2. Srinand Srinivas (Kar) 2: 08.88, 3. Aditya Sangvekar (Mah) 2: 11.72; 50m breaststroke: 1. Sandeep Sejwal (Del) 30.56s, 2. Puneet Rana (Pnb) 30.74, 3. Rohit Kumar (Del) 31.46.

4x200m freestyle relay: 1. Karnataka (S. Srinivas, Abhishek, Rehan Poncha and Rohit Havaldar) 8: 09.80s (NGR, previous 8:11.18 by AP in 2002), 2. Maharashtra 8:16.69, 3. Services 8: 17.58.

Women: 200m butterfly: 1. Pooja R. Alva (Kar) 2: 24.24s, 2. Richa Mishra (Del) 2: 24.99, 3. Madhavi Giri (Kar) 2:30.51. 50m breaststroke: 1. Lekha Kamath (Mah) 36.28s, 2. M. Mini (Ker) 37.77, 3. M.S. Divya (AP) 38.05. 4x200m freestyle relay: 1. Karnataka (Pooja, Madhavi, Kshipra and Shikha) 9: 17.41s, 2. Maharashtra 9: 31.04, 3. Kerala 9: 45.37.

Diving: men's springboard: 1. M. Manish Kumar (Ser) 331.70 points, 2. G.B. Sharath (Ser) 277.40, 3. T. Jagdish Singh (Mani) 246.25.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail