AP brigade in full flow

Records tumbled at the poolside again today as the swimmers continued to hog the limelight today as nine record in total were rewritten here...

Records tumbled at the poolside again today as the swimmers continued to hog the limelight today as nine record in total were rewritten here at the 32nd National Games. Karnataka swimmer Sikha Tandon was the cynosure of all eyes as she dominated the sprint event after Richa Mishra had set the pool ablaze on the first five days of the competition.

Tandon clocked 37.45 sec in the women8217;s 50m freestyle event to pick up her third individual gold medal while the experienced TA Sujith of Services had the honour of taking the men8217;s crown in the same event. Andhra Pradesh8217;s Deepak Kumar also shot into prominence with a record-shattering feat in the men8217;s 50m breatstroke event. The Andhra Pradesh team 4215;200 freestyle relay and Karnataka team 4215;100 freestyle relay also created new Games records.

Gulab bags third gold

The ageing Gulab Chand, who had won the coveted gold medal in the men8217;s 1500m and 10,000m events earlier, added another yellow metal to his kitty by finishing first in the men8217;s 5000m.

Gulab, who had pulled out midway in the 10,000m at the recent Asian Games in Busan due to an injury, showed no signs of discomfort as he left his opponents well behind to claim the honour.

Another Busan-returned athlete Madhuri Singh also bagged her second gold medal by winning the women8217;s 800m while the relatively unknown Ram Ghamande of Services took the honour in the men8217;s section of the same event with a new record timing.

Veteran K Manoj Lal of Kerala had his moment of glory by pocketing the gold in the men8217;s 400m and Hirdayanand of Andhra Pradesh took home the gold in men8217;s discus.

Manisha, Sania on roll

The Andhra Pradesh youngsters, Sania Mirza and Punna Vishal, were on roll as they charged into the semifinals of the tennis competition in the 32nd National Games here today.

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Sania was ruthless. Playing against a weak opposition, Sania reduced Priyanka Parekh of Bengal to a mere spectator as the AP girl ran away to a facile 6-1, 6-0 victory to storm into the women8217;s last four stage. Priyanka held her serve only once in the first set but then in the second, Sania simply galloped to a 6-0 win. Manisha Malhotra of AP and Archana Venkatraman of Karnataka set up a semifinal clash. Archana defeated third seed Sai Jayalakshmy of TN 6-3, 6-4. Manisha made a comeback of sorts before beating Radhika Tulpule of Maharashtra 7-6, 6-3.

Vishal was in his elements today. There was a sense of urgency in his play. The powerful shots were too hot to handle as CD Ajay of Karnataka could only return the shots into the net, not across it. Vishal blanked the Karnataka boy. In the second, Ajay tried to stay in the match by holding his serve twice but it was not good enough as Vishal completed the formalities with ease. In the men8217;s semi-final, Vishal takes on Chatwinder Singh while top seed Nitin Kirtane meets Tamil Nadu8217;s Vinod Sridhar tomorrow. Sridhar had ousted Anjan Viplav of Andhra Pradesh 6-3, 7-6 7-4.

Manisha has made it a habit to bounce back from the brink. Like in the team matches where she was twice in arrears in the final against Sheetal Goutham, Manisha was trailing 2-5 against Tulpule. The seasoned-campaigner clawed her way back with solid tennis. She won the next three games, breaking Tulpule in the tenth.