National Games Round Up: Aneesh Gowda trumps Sajan Prakash in 200m Freestyle even as more records tumble

National Games Round Up: Karnataka’s Aneesh S Gowda announced his arrival as the next bright prospect on the senior stage in telling fashion, scripting a fairy-tale victory over seasoned Kerala’s Sajan Prakash in the men’s 200m Freestyle final in the National Games Aquatics competition at the Sardar Patel Aquatics Complex in Rajkot on Sunday.

On a day which saw five National Games records being rewritten in the pool, Aneesh Gowda’s 1:51.88 was the standout effort, showing nerves of steel and immaculate focus to beat the Olympian to the gold. He had won the event at the National Championships last month too.

Assam’s Astha Choudhury improved on the National Games mark that she had set in the heats this morning by winning the Women’s 100m Butterfly final while Hansika Ramachandra (Karnataka) won the Women’s 200m Freestyle with a Games record time of 2:07.08. Karnataka won the Men’s and Women’s 4x100m Freestyle events too with records.

Not to be left behind, track and field competitors also produced four National Games records in five finals at IIT Gandhinagar, with Services’ High Jumper Sarvesh Anil Kushare claring 2.27m and Uttar Pradesh’s Usaid Khan winning the Decathlon with 7121 points.

Yamandeep Sharma (Rajasthan) joined Usaid as the first two men to pass 7000 points in the National Games. The Haryana men’s 4x400m relay quartet and the Tamil Nadu 4×400 squad were the others who came up with New National Games Records.

Priyanshi Prajapati by fall in the women’s 53kg event without wasting much time on the mat, thanks to her meticulous homework done the night before.

It was in the Wrestling hall that Gujarat picked up one of their two bronze medals today. Khalifa Hinaben won bronze in the 53kg class to become only the second Gujarat grappler in two decades to win a National Games medal. Gujarat were assured of the other medal in Badminton  Mixed Team after their team lost to Kerala in the semifinals in Surat. Telangana rallied to defeat Maharashtra to earn themselves a crack at the title against Kerala.

On the opening day of hockey competitions, Sunelit Toppo scored the winner for Odisha in their 3-2 win against Uttar Pradesh in a women’s Group A match at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in Rajkot. Favourites Haryana thumped novices Gujarat 30-1 in another match., Navneet Kaur and Neha leading the scoring with five goals each. For the hosts, Muskan Kureshi got a consolation goal in the 37th minute.

In the morning, defending champions Services’ Rowers were in form, with Jasveer Singh and Iqbal Singh claiming the Men’s Pair title in 6:34.06 and Jaswinder Singh, Bheem Singh, Punit Kumar and Ashish taking the Fours crown.

Satyajit Mondal (West Bengal) 13.233; 3. Tushar K (Delhi) 13.167).

Pommel Horse: 1. Siddharth Verma (Uttar Pradesh) 13.1000; 2. Harikrishnan JS ( Kerala) 13.000; 3. Abhijeet Kumar (Services) 12.933.

Roman Rings: 1. Rakesh Kumar (Odisha) 13.033; 2. Aditya Singh Rana (Uttar Pradesh) 12.867; 3. Gaurav Kumar (Services) 12.700.

Vaulting: 1.  Satyajit Mondal (West Bengal) 14.08; 2. Siddhant Verma (Uttar Pradesh) 13.57; 3. Sanasam Ruba (Manipur) 13.37.

Parallel Bars: 1. Gaurav Kumar (Services) 13.833; 2. Aditya Singh Rana (Uttar Pradesh) 13.167; 3. Mohammed Bobby (Uttar Pradesh) 13.133.

Women

Vaulting: 1. Protishta Samanta (Tripura) 12.6335 points; 2. Pranati Nayak (West Bengal) 12.533); 3. Shrivarshini (Karnataka) 12.066.

Uneven Bar: 1. Pranati Nayak (West Bengal) 11.800; 2.  Pranati Das (West Bengal) 10.200); 3. Mallika Kulshrestra (Delhi) 9.667.

Balancing Beam: 1. Protistha  Samanta (Tripura) 11.200; 2. Papia Das (West Bengal) 10. 933; 3. Eshita Rewale (Maharashtra) 10.700.

Floor: 1. Pranati Nayak (West Bengal;) 11.533; 2. Srivarshinee (Karnataka) 11. 333; 3. Pranati Das (West Bengal) 11.267.

Rowing

Men’s Singles Sculls (M1X): 1. Jakhar Khan (Services) 6:39.5; 2. Shobit Pandey (Odisha) 6:54.9; 3. Sukhbir Singh (Delhi) 7:01.3.

Doubles Sculls (M2X): 1. Shangdeep Singh and Parminder Singh (Services) 5:56.7; 2. Kulwinder Singh and Karamjit Singh (Punjab) 6:02.0; 3. Gurpratap Singh and Jaspreet Singh (Jharkhand) 6:05.4.

Coxless Pair (M2-): Services (Jasveer Singh and Iqbal Singh) 6:34.06; 2. Maharashtra 6:42.05; 3. Madhya Pradesh 6:44.08.

Coxless Four (M4-): 1. Services (Jaswinder Singh, Bheem Singh, Punit Kumar and Ashish) 5:47.09; 2. Punjab 5:52.09; 3, Rajasthan 5:54.09.