Hashika on fire; TN’s Sunayna wins squash gold

RAJKOT: Karnataka swimmer Hashika Ramachandra anchored her state’s 4x200m freestyle relay team to victory and climbed the top of podium for the fourth time in the 36th National Games here.

But, it was the teenager’s stunning victory in the 200m butterfly final that set the Sardar Patel Aquatics Complex alight on Wednesday. The 14-year-old Hashika dug deep into the reserves of her energy to touch the wall in 2 minutes, 19.12 seconds for her third National Games record, including one as part of the relay team, in four days.

The win enabled her to complete an individual treble, overshadowing Maharashtra diver Hrutika Shriram, a mother of a two-year-old, and Sajan Prakash’s efforts on the day.

Hrutika stayed on course to repeat a golden hat-trick by winning the women’s 10m platform event. Though she was not at her best, she did well enough to pick up her second gold in three days and her 10th crown in four editions of the National Games.

Sajan, braving an abdominal muscle pain, stamped his commanding presence by winning his favourite event, the men’s 200m butterfly, with a National Games record. It was a praiseworthy effort by the experienced swimmer, who bagged his second gold of the ongoing National Games in addition to two silver medals.

Meanwhile, with 40 gold and 89 medals in all, Services continued to enjoy an unchallenged run at the top of the medal charts.

At the IIT Gandhinagar’s squash facility, Tamil Nadu’s Sunayna Kuruvilla staged a dramatic comeback against Urvashi Joshi of Maharashtra to win the women’s singles gold with a 3-2 scoreline (9-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-1).

In Gandhinagar on Tuesday, Uttar Pradesh’s Ram Baboo shattered the national record in the men’s 35km race walk event en route to winning the gold medal. Baboo, an unemployed physical education graduate, crossed the line in 2 hours, 36 minutes, 34 seconds, bettering the earlier national record of 2:40.16, which was in the name of Haryana’s Juned Khan, who finished second on the day with a timing of 2:40.51.