National Games Round-Up: Srihari Nataraj Finishes Campaign With a Flourish, Claiming Sixth Gold With 100m Freestyle Win

Olympian Srihari Nataraj (Karnataka) ended his campaign in the National Games Swimming competition in a blaze of glory, capturing his sixth gold medal with a brilliant show in the men’s 100m Freestyle final at the Sardar Patel Aquatics Complex, Rajkot. He won in 50.41 seconds, a new National Games record time.

Throughout the week, he watched his senior Sajan Prakash (Kerala) claim five gold, two silver, and a bronze medal. Today, he stormed to a 100m Freestyle win, with Sajan Prakash finishing seventh. Srihari accomplished his mission of claiming the two Freestyle sprint gold medals to add to the two Backstroke titles besides anchoring Karnataka relay squads to two gold.

SP Likhit made a clean sweep of the three men’s Breaststroke events by winning the 100m event today, helping Services to increase their haul of gold to 44 so far and maintain a gap with second-placed Haryana, who have 30 gold. Maharashtra continued their bid to challenge Haryana, with just two gold medals fewer.

Karnataka has risen to the fourth spot with 23 gold medals, including 19 from the Aquatics competitions. Tamil Nadu, whose 4x100m Medley relay squad defeated Karnataka in the final event of the Aquatics competition for the team’s only gold from the swimming pool, is in fifth place on the medal table.

A 2-0 victory for Gujarat men in the Soft Tennis final against Madhya Pradesh at the Sabarmati Riverfront Sports Complex in Ahmedabad saw the host state end the day with an unprecedented 11 gold medals so far. The home team will look forward to the addition of the women’s Triathlon crown through Pragyna Mohan on Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, at the Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Delhi Judoka Mohit Sherawat went for broke despite fighting with a dislocated right shoulder in his semifinal and final bouts to win the 81kg class gold. The National champion dislocated his shoulder midway through the quarterfinal against Sarabjit Singh of Punjab.

In the Road Cycling competition on the highway east of the Gujarat Capital, Karnataka ace Naveen John reminded himself of the reason for being in the saddle today and pumped the pedal with greater intensity to successfully defend the men’s Individual Time Trial while Manipur’s Tongbram Manorama Devi overcame fever and headache to sprint ahead of Chayanika Gogoi (Assam) and Pooja Baban Danole (Maharashtra) to win the Women 85km Road Race.

Services and Maharashtra rallied to win the men’s and women’s gold medals in the Water Polo competition at the Sardar Patel Aquatics Complex in Rajkot. Services recovered to defeat Kerala 10-8 with two last-minute goals in a nail-biting men’s final while Maharashtra women beat Kerala 5-3 in the last round-robin match to win the title.

Tamil Nadu’ S Vaishnavi claimed the women’s Artistic Yogasana gold with 134.22 points, to be flanked on the podium by Maharashtra duo Chhakuli Bansilal Selokar (127.68) and Purva Shriram Kinare (126.68). Purva would draw immense satisfaction after the bronze medal effort, having sneaked into the final as the 10th and last qualifier.

In men’s Hockey at the Maj. Dhyan Chand Stadium in Rajkot, Karnataka beat hosts Gujarat 11-2 to earn a semifinal outing with Haryana, who showed Tamil Nadu the exit with a 3-0 victory. Uttar Pradesh edged out West Bengal via the penalty shootout after the thriller ended 1-1 in regular play. Uttar Pradesh will Maharashtra who beat Jharkhand in the last quarterfinal.

Four home boxers – Asifali Asgharli Syed (57kg), Minaxi Bhanushali (57kg) Paramjit Kaur (66kg) and Ruchita Rajput (75kg) – have made it to the quarterfinals. Former national champion Krishna Thapa, who was roped in a few months before the Games to monitor the State team, is confident that the sporting extravaganza will infuse life into boxing in Gujarat.

The results

Aquatics

Swimming

Men

100m Freestyle: 1. Srihari Nataraj (Karnataka) 50.41 seconds (New National Games record. Old: 50.97, Aaron D’Souza, Thiruvananthapuram, 2015); 2. Vishal Grewal (Delhi) 51.41; 3. AS Anand (Services) 52.06.

100m Breaststroke: 1. SP Likhit (Services) 1:02.77; 2. S Danush (Tamil Nadu) 1:03.95; 3. Anoop Augustine (Kerala) 1:05.42.

Women

100m Freestyle: 1. Shivangi Sarma (Assam) 58.77 seconds, 2. Maana Patel (Gujarat) 59.15; 3. S Rujula (Karnataka) 59.17.

100m Breaststroke: 1. Chahat Arora (Punjab) 1:14.42 (New National Games record. Old: 1:17.35, Sanji Shetty, Bangalore, 1997); 2. Jyoti Patil (Maharashtra) 1:16.64; 3. Aarti Patil (Maharashtra) 1:18.72.

Mixed

4x100m Medley Relay: 1. Tamil Nadu (Rohit Benediction, Maanya Mukta, S Danush, B Shakti) 4:11.08; 2. Karnataka 4:12.30; 3. Gujarat 4:13.31.

Water Polo

Men: Services beat Kerala. Bronze medal play-off: Maharashtra beat West Bengal 8-7.

Women (played on a league basis): 1. Maharashtra; 2. West Bengal; 3. Kerala.

Cycling

Men 38km Individual Time Trial: 1. Naveen John (Karnataka) 49:01.635; 2. Arvind Panwar (Uttar Pradesh) 50:30.733; 3. Joel Santosh Sundaram (Tamil Nadu) 50:42.114.

Women 85km Road Race: 1. Tongbram Manorama Devi (Manipur); 2. Chayanika Gogoi (Assam); 3. Pooja Baban Danole (Maharashtra).

Judo

Men

73kg class: Vishal Ruhil (Haryana) beat Jaitin (Haryana). Bronze medals: Pradeep Rawat (Uttarakhand) and Vikash Dalal (Haryana).

81kg class: Mohit Sehrawat (Delhi) beat Harshpreet Singh (Punjab). Bronze medals: Abhishek Chaudhury (Uttar Pradesh) and Parvinder (Haryana).

Women

52kg class: Lal Humhimi (Mizoram) beat Pinky Balhara (Delhi); Bronze medals: Snehal Ramesh Khavre (Maharashtra) and L Nunghithol Chanu (Manipur.

57kg class: Yamini Mourya (Madhya Pradesh) beat Savitri (Haryana). Bronze medals: L Bembem Devi (Manipur) and Suchika Tariyal (Haryana).

Soft Tennis

Men’s Team: Gujarat beat Madhya Pradesh 2-0

Women’s Team: Tamil Nadu beat Gujarat 2-0.

Wushu Taolu

Men Taichiquan & Taijijian: 1. M Gyandas Singh (Services) Taichiquan 9.58 points, Taijijian 9.50 points, Total 18.98 points; 2. Sanma Brahma (Assam) 9.20, 9.05, 18.25; 3. Abhishek Mehto (Delhi) 8.15, 8.80, 16.95.

Women Taichiquan & Taijijian: 1. Mepung Lambu (Arunachal Pradesh) 9.05, 8.85, 17.90; 2. Ralu Boo (Arunachal Pradesh) 8.25, 8.15, 16.40; 3. Shravani Sopan Katke (Maharashtra) 8.50, 7.80, 16.30.

Yogasana

Men

Artistic: 1. Vaibhav Waman Shriram (Maharashtra) 136.52 points; 2. Aditya Prakash Jangam (Karnataka) 134.71; 3. Praveen Kumar Pathak (Haryana) 133.35.

Women

Artistic: 1. S Vaishnavi (Tamil Nadu) 134.22 points; 2. Chhakuli Bansilal Selokar (Maharashtra) 127.68; 3. Purva Shivaram Kinare (Maharashtra) 126.68.

Other results:

Football

Women’s semifinal: Manipur beat Assam 5-0 (Half-time: 2-0).

Golf

Men (leaders after three rounds): Karandeep Kochchar (Chandigarh) 199 (68, 66.65); Abhinav Lohan (Haryana) 206 (68, 66, 72); Ishaan Chawhan (Maharashtra) 211 (71, 72, 68), Sunhit Bishnoi (Haryana) 211 (73, 69, 69); Arjun Bhati (Uttar Pradesh) 212 (72, 70, 70); Aryan Roopa Anand (Karnataka) 214 (72, 72, 20).

Women (leaders after three rounds): Amandeep Kaur (Punjab) 212 (72, 69, 71); Avani Prashanth (Karnataka) 216 (71, 74, 71); Nishna Hemesh Patel (Maharashhtra) 222 (74, 68, 80); Puneet Kaur Bajwa (Punjab) 224 (75, 74, 74); Vani Kapoor (Delhi) 224 (75, 74, 75); Seher Kaur Atwal (Delhi) 224 (76, 77, 71).

Hockey

Men’s quarterfinals: Karnataka beat Gujarat 11-2 (Half-time: 6-1); Haryana: beat Tamil Nadu 3-0 (1-0); Uttar Pradesh beat West Bengal 1-1 (1-0) 5-4 in a penalty shootout.; Maharashtra beat Jharkhand 3-1 (2-0).

Softball

Men

Group X: Maharashtra beat Madhya Pradesh 9-0; Delhi beat Gujarat 11-0; Madhya Pradesh beat Gujarat 13-0.

Group Y: Chhattisgarh beat Andhra Pradesh 2-0; Haryana beat Chandigarh 1-0 (via tie-breaker); Chhattisgarh beat Haryana 2-0.

Women:

Group X: Kerala beat Delhi 5-3; Chhattisgarh beat Gujarat 11-0; Delhi beat Gujarat 8-0.

Group Y: Punjab beat Maharashtra 1-0; Telangana beat Madhya Pradesh 13-0;

Note: In the results last night, the men’s 50m Backstroke swimming winner’s time was erroneously recorded as 26.65. The correct result is: Men’s 50m Backstroke: 1. Srihari Nataraj (Karnataka) 25.65 seconds (New National Games record. Old: 25.88, Srihari Nataraj, Rajkot, 2022); 2. V Vinayak (Services) 26.72; 3. S Siva (Karnataka) 27.11.

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