Swimming sensation Richa Mishra and Shikha Tandon continued their gold-grabbing acts while pistol king Jaspal Rana also made his presence felt as 16 records fell by the wayside in the 32nd National Games here today.Karnataka’s Shikha Tandon set the pool ablaze by picking up two gold medals with record-breaking efforts while Richa Mishra bagged her seventh gold medal by setting a new record in the women’s 200m butterfly event on an eventful day which saw hosts Andhra Pradesh consolidate their position atop the medals table.The swimming pool provided plenty of action with five new records being established while the shooting ranges saw three records being re-written. As many as eight records fell by the wayside in the canoeing and kayaking events.Shikha was the toast of the strong Karnataka contingent as she created new records in women’s 200m breaststroke and 100m freestyle events to take her individual gold tally to an impressive five.The swimming honours were shared by Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh with two gold medals each of the six on offer on the last day of competitions while Kerala and Services scooped up one gold medal each.Kerala’s Senthil Kumar (men’s 100m backstroke) and Andhra’s Deepak Kumar (men’s 100m breaststroke) also had their moment of glory by re-writing the records.The seasoned Jaspal Rana secured his fifth gold medal from the shooting ranges by taking the honour in the men’s 25m rapidfire pistol individual event while Services clinched the team crown.The experienced a P Subaiah of Services had a satisfying day to take the coveted gold in the men’s 50m rifle three position event with a record breaking effort. Deepali Deshpande of Maharashtra (women’s 50m rifle three position) and Satguru Das of Services (men’s 50m rifle prone) were the other record-breakers.The canoeing and kayaking events provided plenty of action with new records being established in all the eight events scheduled for the day.Services expectedly ruled the roost by pocketing four gold medals to take their tally to 11 while Kerala grabbed three golds. Hosts Andhra Pradesh had to be content with one gold.Services’ players won the men’s kayak singles, kayak doubles, kayak fours and canoe doubles. Kerala reigned supreme in women’s kayak singles, kayak doubles amd kayak fours while the lone gold for the hosts came in men’s canoe singles.In men’s hockey, Maharashtra set up a title clash with strong contenders Punjab after defeating Services 4-1 in the tie-breaker after both the teams were locked goalless at the end of regulation and extra time.Punjab scraped past Karnataka by a solitary goal in the other semi-final encounter which turned out to be a keenly contested affair.The hosts had a fruitful day at the tennis arena with three of their players romping into the final of the men’s and women’s singles events.Andhra’s Punna Vishal will clash with Maharashtra’s Nitin Kirtane in the men’s final while teenage sensation Sania Mirza and Manisha Malhotra, both representing AP, battling it out in the women’s section.The hosts added one more gold medal to their swelling kitty by claiming another gold at the Osmania University velodrome with the honour in 120km road mass start cycling event.The cycling events were dominated by Punjab who finished their engagements with seven golds while strong contenders Manipur had six gold medals to their credit. In water polo, Kerala won the gold in both the men’s and women’s section.
