Andhra Pradesh’s Amar Muralidharan stole the limelight at the Aquatics Complex, Gachibowli, on Tuesday. Amar defeated Karnataka’s Shreesh Reddy in the 200m butterfly event when he pipped him at the post. It was a close race where Shreesh took the lead and consolidated it at the first turn. Amar and Rehan Poncha (Karnataka) were two strokes behind. But at the last moment, with hidden energy, Amar burst to the finish to bag his first gold medal in the meet.Earlier, Richa Mishra of Andhra Pradesh set the tempo with her fourth individual gold medal when she won the 200m individual medley in record time. She eclipsed the seven-year-old National record set by Sangeeta Rani Puri of Delhi.Karnataka’s V Sivaranjani pocketed her second gold medal in breaststroke, when she upset Richa Mishra in the 200m event. It was Richa who took the lead but the strong finish of Sivaranjani helped her romp home. In the process, Sivaranjani bettered the national record of Richa Mishra set in 2000.Karnataka’s Rehan Poncha saved his energy for the best in the 400m freestyle event. Kailash Nath of Andhra Pradesh took a two-stroke lead initially but his teammate Amar Muralidharan caught him at the second turn. Rehan, who was lying third, pressed the accelerator to catch up with the two AP men and blitzed home in the last stretch. This enabled him to fetch a national record apart from his third individual gold.
