National Games 2022 | Budding star Hashika Ramachandra, Sajan Prakash hog limelight
The Hindu
Veteran Sajan Prakash picked up two gold medals to take his gold medal tally of the games to five
The budding star of Indian swimming, the 14-year-old Hashika Ramachandra underlined her class by winning the sixth gold medal of the 36 th National Games at Sardar Patel Aquatic Complex here on Friday.
The Karnataka girl won back-to-back gold medals on a penultimate day and set a new meet record in 400m freestyle after warding off a tough challenge from Delhi’s Bhavya Sachdeva. Hashika touched in 4:32.17s to topple Aakansha Vora’s old mark (4:32.50) set in 2015. Hashika also won the 200m Individual medley event in 2:26.23s for her sixth gold medal of the games.
Veteran Sajan Prakash picked up two gold medals to take his gold medal tally of the games to five. Sajan Prakash in a storming final 50 metres beat back the challenge from Karnataka’s S.Siva and MP’s Advait Page to set a new mark in 200m IM.
At the homestretch, Sajan peeled away from Siva and Advait Page, despite a terrific sprint couldn’t catch up with the Kerala swimmer who clocked 2:05.81s to break P.S. Madhu’s old mark (2:08.98) set in 2015. Sajan also won the 400m freestyle in 3:58.11s after nosing ahead of his rivals in the final 25 metres. Advait Page came up with his customary fast finish to pip Aneesh for the silver.
The 50m backstroke event didn’t produce any surprise as Sreehari Nataraj (Karnataka) and Maana Patel (Gujarat) winning the gold in men’s and women’s sections with meet records.
Sreehari led from start to clock 25.65s and improved the record (25.88s) he set in the heats in the morning. Maana Patel blitzed the field to win 29.77s and she also broke her own record (29.81s) set in the heats. Karnataka won the 4x100m mixed freestyle event to take its gold medal tally to 18 in this games.
Men: 400m freestyle: 1. Sajan Prakash (Ker) (3:58.11s), 2. Advait Page (MP), 3. Aneesh S.Gowda (Kar); 200m IM 1. Sajan Prakash (Ker) ( 2:05.81s- NGR; OR- 2:08.98, P.S.Madhu, SSCB, 2015), 2. S.Siva (Kat), 3. Benedicton Rohit (TN); 50m backstroke: 1. Sreehari Nataraj (Kar) (25.65s- NGR; OR- 25.88s, Srihari Nataraj, Karnataka, 2022), 2.V.Vinayak ( SSCB), 3. S.Siva (Kar).
Indian women's hockey team wins Asian Champions Trophy with a 1-0 victory over China, Deepika scoring the winning goal.
Top CRPF officer in Srinagar announces Kashmir situation under control, inaugurates cricket tournament to engage youth.
Rafael Nadal's retirement from tennis leaves a void, but his legacy of resilience and greatness will endure.
Marnus Labuschagne discusses India's confidence after loss to New Zealand, warns Australia not to underestimate them.
Pankaj Mohite and Bhavani Rajput shine in 29-29 draw between Puneri Paltan and UP Yoddhas in Pro Kabaddi League.
Indian blind cricket team denied permission to travel to Pakistan for T20 World Cup due to security concerns.
Anupama Upadhyaya stuns Beiwen Zhang to advance in China Masters, while Sumeeth and Sikki Reddy also progress.
India advances to the women's Asian Champions Trophy final after defeating Japan 2-0, facing China in the championship match.
India's Junior Asia Cup hockey team, led by defender Amir Ali, aims for success after recent Sultan of Johor Cup victory.
Former India coach Ravi Shastri confident ‘world class’ Yashasvi Jaiswal will return from Australia as a better batter and also backed Virat Kohli to fire in all the Test matches.
Shafali Verma dropped from India's women's ODI team for poor performance, Harmanpreet Kaur to lead against Australia.