Karnataka swimmers complete domination with 45 medals

Bangalore, June 10: Karnataka surpassed their Pune Games medal haul and their own expectations by finishing the swimming competition with 2...

Bangalore, June 10: Karnataka surpassed their Pune Games medal haul and their own expectations by finishing the swimming competition with 22 gold, 14 silver and 9 bronze for a tally of 45 medals in the fourth National Games. They earned three golds on the concluding day, at the Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre pool. At Pune, Karnataka had tallied 37 medals.

Incidentally of the 31 finals, meet records were bettered in 29.Nisha Millet, who was entered in ten events, won the women’s 50 metre freestyle in a time of 0:28.81 for her sixth Games record (old: Mithu Barua of Assam 0:28.95 heats, 1994). Nisha, who studies in class nine, distanced herself from statemate Tashina Singh, with Maharashtra’s Tejaswi Shetty in third position. But past the half way mark the powerfully built Tejaswi nosed ahead of Tashina but could not catch up with Nisha. Tejaswi finished in 0:29.49 with Tashina hot on her heels (0:29.54).

Sebastian Xavier emerged the fastest swimmer for the ninth year running and took Kerala’s medal haul to 8 gold, three silver and five bronze. He clocked a time of 0:24.27 secs to improve on his previous mark of 0:24.39 secs set three years ago. Shibu Sebastian of Services took the silver in 0:25.09 while I C Raju of Kerala was third (0:25.23.)

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Nisha swam to her seventh individual gold in the 100 m backstroke with Abhinaya Shetty (Karnataka) and Naina Sen (Delhi) fighting it out for the second and third positions. Swimming back-to-back races, Nisha went all out from the start cheered by schoolmates and by the 50 metre marker had established a clear cut lead. Maintaining the tempo, she finished the race in 1:09.18, also Games record (old Ashima Shetty 1:13.18, 1994). Abhinaya came in at 1:11.69 and Naina in 1:12.79 to better the meet record.

The final event of the programme, held after a 40 minute hold-up due to rain, saw a keen fight between Karnataka’s J Abhijit, Kerala’s Senthil Kumar and West Bengal’s Surojit Ganguly. Abhijit, who was entered in 15 events, signed off in style by breaking away from the field past the 75m mark.Egged on by a vociferous crowd he pushed himself to return a time of 1:01.60. Before the start of the race Wilson Cherian, who holds the National (1:01.47) and Games record (1:01.56) was sure that his record would not be broken and he was proved true later. But Abhijit did win his sixth individual gold. He has one silver, one bronze and one relay medal to show too.

Debris found in Dal Lake could be from missile Pak fired during Op Sindoor

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Debris believed to be from a missile fired by Pakistan during Operation Sindoor in May has been found in Srinagar's Dal Lake. The debris has been handed over to the Air Force for further investigation. Sources say the target may have been a military installation in Srinagar, which is close to the lake. The make of the missile is yet to be determined.

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