Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
National Games Round Up: Karnataka teenager Hashika claims fourth gold in swimming
Hashika Ramachandra anchored the Karnataka 4x200m Freestyle Relay team to victory to climb the podium at the Sardar Patel Aquatics Complex in Rajkot for the fourth time in the 36th National Games but it was her stunning victory in the 200m Butterfly final that set the venue alight.
The 14-year-old Hashika Ramachandra dug deep into the reserves of her energy to slip past Astha Choudhury and 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 to overshadow Maharashtra diver Hrutika Shriram, a mother of a two-year-old, and seasoned Sajan Prakash’s efforts today.
Favourite Hrutika Shriram stayed on course to repeat the golden hat-trick by winning the Women’s 10m Platform event. Though she was self-admittedly not at her best, she did her dives well enough to pick up her second gold in three days and her 10th crown in four editions of the National Games.
Sajan Prakash, 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 bid by the experienced swimmer to claim his second gold medal of the National Games in addition to two silver medals.
Meanwhile, with 40 gold and 89 medals in all at the time of writing, Services continued to enjoy an unchallenged run at the top of the medal charts. Haryana were second with 25 gold, barely ahead of Maharashtra’s 24. As many as 25 teams have won at least one gold, and 32 contingents at least one medal in the National Games.
For a while it looked like there would be a surprise gold for Gujarat in the swimming pool. Their gambit of fielding Aryan Nehra and Anshul Kothari in the first two legs of the 4x200m Freestyle worked well, giving rise to hopes in the hearts of the home fans. Karnataka’s S Siva and Aneesh S Gowda, however, packed too much power in the next two to win by a comfortable margin.
There was delight for Gujarat at the Riverfront Sports Development complex in Ahmedabad where up and coming Gujarat tennis player Zeel Desai helped the State retain the Women’s Singles gold ̛in defending champion Ankita Raina’s absence The third-seeded Zeel Desai led Karnataka’s Sharmada Balu 6-2, 3-2 when the latter retired with an ankle injury.
Tamil Nadu’s Manish Sureshkumar also benefitted for the physical discomfort and rib pain Maharashtra’s Arjun Kadhe faced after winning the opening set. He could not maintain the same tempo after taking a medical time-out in the second set and Manish Sureshkumar pounced on the opportunity to win 2-6, 6-1, 6-3.
At the IIT Gandhinagar’s Squash facility, Tamil Nadu’s Sunayna Kuruvilla staged a dramatic comeback to win the Women’s Singles gold. Urvashi Joshi of Maharashtra won the first two games 11-9 and 11-7 but Sunayna found her rhythm to turn the final on its head. She conceded just 13 points in winning three games to romp home winner.
Rishabh Yadav  and Aditi Gopichand Swami  emerged with gold after thrilling battles in the Men’s and Women’s Compound Archery contest at the picturesque Sanskardham School.
Only a solitary point separated Rishabh Yadav from Ojas Pravin Detale  in the men’s final, the Haryana archer winning 148-147. Similarly, Aditi Gopichand Swami edged out Pragati  by one point, claiming a 144-143 victory.
The Lawn Bowls competition drew to a close at the Kensville Golf and Country Club near Ahmedabad with Assam’s Sunil Bahadur beating Soumen Banerjee  16-9 in the Men’s Singles final. Navneet Singh, Ayush Bharadwaj, Apurv Ashutosh Sharma and Abhishek Chug teamed up to beat West Bengal by the skin of their teeth, 15-14, in the Fours final.
The Assam Pair of Tania Choudhary and Nayanmoni Saikia beat Lovely Choubey and Rupa Rani Tirkey of Jharkhand 17-10 while Manu Kumari Pal, Jaya and Pinki surprised Jharkhand’s Sarita Tirkey, Anamika Lakra and Kavita Kumari 18-9 to win the Triples gold.
Olympic Games bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohaim was the cynosure at the Mahatma Mandir where Boxing competitions got underway. She left unheralded Nishi Bharadwaj  searching for cover before the referee stopped the Women’s 75kg opening round bout. Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Jaismine Lamboria  and Mohammed Hussamuddin  also registered convincing victories.
The results :
Aquatics
Diving
Women’s 10m Platform: 1. Hrutika Shriram  179.30 points; 2. Palak Sharma  175.10; 3. Esha Waghmode  172.35.
Swimming
Men
50m Breaststroke: 1. SP Likhit  28.62 seconds; 2. Vaishnav B Hegde  29.00; 2. Shejwal Mankar  29.18.
200m Butterfly: 1. Sajan Prakash  1:59.56 ; 2. Bikram Changmai  2:03.43; 3. Sanu Debnath  2:03.96.
4x200m Freestyle Relay: 1. Karnataka  7:41.10 ; 2. Gujarat 7:48.06; 3. Maharashtra 7:52.62.
Women
50m Breaststroke: 1. Chahat Arora  33.31 seconds; 2. Aarti Patil  34.77; 3. Manavi Varma  35.08. .
200m Butterfly: 1. Hashika Ramachandra  2:19.12 ; 2. Astha Choudhury  2:19.63; 3. Vritti Aggarwal  2:23.17.
4x200m Freestyle Relay: 1. Karnataka 8:51.59 ; 2. Tamil Nadu 9:13.40; 3. Bengal 9:19.56.
Archery 
Men
Individual: Rishabh Yadav  beat Ojas Pravin Detale ; Bronze medal play-off: Gurwinder Singh  beat Umesh Singh  141-140.
Team: Delhi beat Punjab 233-226; Bronze medal play-off: Maharashtra beat Uttarakhand 230-220.
Women
Individual: Aditi Gopichand Swami  beat Pragati  144-143; Bronze medal play-off: Sakshi Chaudhary  beat Parneet Kaur  143-140.
Team: Maharashtra beat Andhra Pradesh 229-222; Bronze medal play-off: Punjab beat Delhi 224-221.
Mixed
Team: Punjab beat Delhi 155-153; Bronze medal play-off: Uttar Pradesh beat Andhra Pradesh 152-151.
Lawn Bowls
Men
Single: Sunil Bahadur  beat Soumen Banerjee  16-9. Bronze medal play-off: Mridul Borgohain  beat Vikram Rajak  21-6.
Fours: Delhi  beat West Bengal  15-14; Bronze medal play-off: Assam beat Jharkhand 16-9.
Women
Pair: Assam  beat Jharkhand  17-10; Bronze medal play-off: West Bengal beat Bihar 15-10.
Triple: Delhi  beat Jharkhand  18-9; Bronze medal play-off: Assam beat West Bengal 21-4.
Squash
Men
Singles: Abhay Singh  beat Velavan Senthilkumar 11-2, 11-6, 9-11, 11-8; Bronze medals: Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu  and Rahul Bhatia .
Team: Tamil Nadu beat Maharashtra 2-0 . Bronze medals: Uttar Pradesh and Services.
Women
Singles: Sunayna Kuruvilla  beat Urvashi Joshi  9-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-1; Bronze medals: Anahat Singh  and Tanvi Khanna .
Team: Delhi beat Tamil Nadu 2-0 ; Bronze medals: Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
Tennis
Men’s singles: Manish Suresh Kumar  beat Arjun Kadhe  2-6, 6-1, 6-3. Bronze medals: SD Prajwal Dev  and G Manish .
Women’s singles: Zeel Desai  beat Sharmada Balu  6-2, 3-2 latter retd; Bronze medals: Yubrani Banerjee  and Rutuja Bhosale .
Mixed Doubles: Rutuja Bhosale and Arjun Kadhe  w.o. Sharmada Balu and SD Prajwal Dev . Bronze medals: Samhitha Sai Chamarthi and Manish Suresh Kumar  and Vaidehi Chaudhari and Madhwin Kamath .
Other important results:
Badminton
Men’s Singles : B Sai Praneeth  beat M Raghu  21-12, 21-19; M Mithun  beat Aryamann Tandon  21-9, 11-21.
Women’s Singles : Malvika Bansod  beat Aditi Bhatt  21-10, 19-21, 21-13; Aakarshi Kashyap  beat Tanya Hemanth  21-9, 21-15.
Women’s Doubles : Sikki Reddy and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela  bt Kavya Gupta and Khushi Gupta  21-16, 21-17; Shikha Gautam and Ashwini Bhat  beat Mahreen Riza and Arathi Sara Sunil  23-21, 21-11.
Men’s Doubles : PS Ravikrishna and Sankarprasad Udayakumar  beat HV Nithin and Vaibhaav  21-17, 21-14; Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar  beat Shyam Prasad and S Sunjith  21-19, 21-16
Mixed Doubles : Sai Pratheek and Ashwini Ponnappa  beat Hariharan Amsakarunan and VR Nardhana  23-21, 13-21, 21-19; Rohan Kapoor and Kanika Kanwal  beat S Sunjith and TR Gowrikrishna  24-22, 21-18.
Basketball 
Men’s semifinal: Tamil Nadu beat Services 90-47 .
Women’s semifinal: Tamil Nadu beat Madhya Pradesh 82-30 ; Telangana beat Kerala 88-82 .
Football
Men
Group B: Karnataka beat Punjab 1-0 ; West Bengal beat Gujarat 3-1 .
Women
Group A: Tamil Nadu beat Goa 7-0 ; Manipur beat Mizoram 5-0 .
Hockey
Men
Group B: Uttar Pradesh beat Tamil Nadu 3-1 ; Karnataka beat Jharkhand 3-2.
Women
Group A: Odisha: beat Gujarat 23-0 ; Haryana beat Uttar Pradesh 5-1 .
Group B: Madhya Pradesh beat Karnataka 3-0 ; Punjab) beat Jharkhand 3-2 .