UP’s Ram sets National Record even as nine Games’ records tumble

Uttar Pradesh’s Ram Baboo set a National Record in Race Walk even as nine National Games records were breached in athletics and swimming in the 36th National Games here on Tuesday.

Home swimmer Maana Patel and Assam sprinter Amlan Borgohain were the stars of the day, entering the record books twice each.

Maana Patel clocked a personal best time of 26.60 seconds in the 50m Freestyle heats in the morning. Later in the evening, she improved her own Games record while winning the 200m backstroke gold in 2:19.74.

Sadly for home fans, she was beaten in the 50m Freestyle final.

Amlan Borgohain (Assam) broke the 200m mark twice, first in the heats and then in the final. Four runners cracked the 21-second barrier in the final, but there was no denying him the men’s sprint double, having won the 100m dash earlier.

Amlan left the field in his wake, as he blazed from the start, sped around the curve and consolidated on the home straight to the beam in 20.55 seconds in the final.

13.04 seconds in the Harry Schutling Games in the Dutch city of Vught.

At the Mahatma Mandir, Uttar Pradesh weightlifter Purnima Pandey overcame a stiff back to clinched the Women’s +87kg gold. Purnima, who finished sixth at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, did enough to take the top spot on the podium with total lifts of 215kg, with 95kg in Snatch and 120kg in Clean & Jerk.

Maharashtra claimed the Kho-kho golden double, the men beating Kerala  30-26 after leading 26-10 at half-time and the women’s team  dashing Odisha’s dream with a 18-16 win.

Manipur’s archers picked up two out of the four gold medals in the Indian Bow competition, with the Men’s team sharing the spoils with Okram Naobi Chanu. Okram won the single-arrow shoot-off against Gujarat’s Rathva Amita Ganpatbhai after they tied in the Women’s Individual 5-5. Manipur were denied a third gold by Kerala’s women.

Sanyunkta Kale (Maharashtra) topped the Women’s All-Around Rhythmic Gymnastics competition with 101.65 points ahead of her team-mate Richa Chordia (99.15) and Jammu and Kashmir’s Saneha Dewan (74.55). It was the only medal on offer in the Women’s Rhythmic Gymnastics.

At the Riverfront Sports Complex in Ahmedabad, Arjun Kadhe (Maharashtra) will meet Manish Suresh Kumar (Tamil Nadu) in the Men’s Tennis Singles final while Gujarat’s Zeel Desai will vie with Karnataka’s Sharmada Balu for the Women’s Dingles crown.

In Surat, top-seeded Sai Praneeth (Telangana) and Malvika Bansod (Maharashtra) took contrasting routes to the Men’s and Women’s Badminton Singles respectively. Sai Praneeth beat Sathish Kumar (Tamil Nadu) in straight games while Malvika Bansod lost the opening game to Delhi’s Aashi Rawat and needed to win an extended decider.

21-17.

Tennis

Men’s Doubles final: Prajwal Dev and Adil Kalyanpur (Karnataka) beat Dhruv Hirpara and Madhwin Kamat (Gujarat) 6-3, 6-4.

Women’s doubles: Rutuja Bhosale and Vaishnavi Adkar (Maharashtra) beat Sharmada Balu and Soha Sadiq (Karnataka) 6-4, 6-4.

Men’s Singles (Semifinals): Arjun Kadhe (Maharashtra) beat SSD Prajwal Dev (Karnataka) 7-5, 7-5; Manish Suresh Kumar (Tamil Nadu) beat G Manish (Karnataka) 6-7, 6-2, 6-2.

Women’s Singles (Semifinals): Sharmada Balu (Karnataka) beat Yubrani Banerjee (West Bengal) 6-0, 6-3. Zeel Desai (Gujarat) beat Rutuja Bhosale (Maharashtra) 6-0, latter retd.

Women’s singles (quarterfinals): Malvika Bansod (Maharashtra) beat Aashi Rawat (Delhi) 18-21, 21-17, 22-20; Aditi Bhatt (Uttarakhand) beat Ashmita Chaliha (Assam) 21-10, 21-11; Tanya Hemanth (Karnataka) beat Adita Rao (Gujarat)  21-15, 21-13; Aakarshi Kashyap (Chhattisgarh) beat Tasnim Mir (Gujarat) 21-17, 21-14.

Hockey

Men

Group A: Maharashtra beat Haryana 3-1 (Half-time: 0-1). West Bengal beat Gujarat 8-2 (5-0).

Group B: Karnataka beat Tamil Nadu 5-1 (2-1); Uttar Pradesh beat Jharkhand 4-1 (1-0).

Lawn Bowls

Men

Single (Semifinals): Soumen Banerjee (West Bengal) beat Vikram Rajak (Delhi) 21-10; Sunil Bahadur (Jharkhand) and Mridul Borgohain (Assam) 21-19.

Women

Pair (Semifinals): Assam beat Bihar 29-3; Jharkhand beat West Bengal 18-11.

(Jharkhand) 13.42.

400m Hurdles: 1. Vithya Ramaraj (Tamil Nadu) 56.57 seconds (New National Games record. Old: 57.75, Udaya Lakshmi, Ludhiana, 2001); 2. R Arathi (Kerala) 58.57; 3. Sinchal Kaveramma (Karnataka) 58.74.

Javelin Throw: 1. Annu Rani (Uttar Pradesh) 54.56m; 2. Rashmi K Shetty (Andhra Pradesh) 53.97; 3. Shilpa Rani (Haryana) 51.93.

35km Race Walk: 1. Payal (Uttarakhand) 3;11:23.00; 2. Manju Rani (Punjab) 3:22:32.00; 3. Puja Pramanik (West Bengal) 3:33:56.00.

Mixed

4x400m: 1. Haryana (Ayush Dabas, Deepanshi, Kiran Pahal, Angrej Singh) 3:19.29; 2. Karnataka 3:20.51; 3. Delhi 3:25.60.