Shraddha Sudhir and Veerdhawal Khade came through triumphant in the women’s 200m individual medley and men’s 50m butterfly events on the concluding day of the swimming competitions in the 12th South Asian Games at the Dr. Zakir Hussain pool, Sarasujai, on Wednesday.
The day was also marked by Sri Lankan swimmers Matthew Abeysinghe and Kimiko Raheem rounding off their campaign with their fifth individual gold medal in the meet.
Shraddha and Khade’s wins were of much value as the young Bengaluru girl won her first international title while Khade proved that he still has the hunger in him to excel after recovering well from the surprising loss suffered at the hands of Abeysinghe in the 50m freestyle final the other day.
Khade’s 50m butterfly gold, which he pocketed quite comfortably ahead of teammate Anshul Kothari with a new Games record to boot, was also special for the country as it marked the 1000th gold medal for India in the Games. Off to a sound start, the Maharashtra swimmer was always in control of the race as he returned in 24.54s and put to shade the existing meet mark of 25.20s in style.
Shraddha, who was touted as the firm favourite in the 400m individual medley, was beaten to the silver by compatriot Sayani Ghosh on the second day. The Karnataka teenager, however, took no chances against the rest of the field in the 200m IM, proving to be a good and fast learner.
But that soon fizzled out as Shraddha surged ahead and finished in 2.31.18, more than two seconds ahead of Gaurika.
Jyotsna Pansare was the other Indian individual gold winner of the day, as she finished ahead of Avantika Chavan and Sri Lankan Hiruni Perera in the 50m butterfly.
The results:
Swimming: Men: 100m freestyle: 1. Matthew Abeysinghe (SL), 51.23s — NGR; OR — 52.48s, 2. K.T. Cherantha de Silva (SL), 52.11s, 3. Md Mahfizur Rahman (Ban), 52.34s. 50m butterfly: 1. Veerdhawal Khade (Ind), 24.54s — NGR; OR — 25.20s, 2. Anshul Kothari (Ind), 25.24s, 3. K.T. Cherantha de Silva, 25.45s.
200m individual medley: 1. Matthew Abeysinghe, 2:09.63 — NGR; OR — 2:11.22, 2. Sanu Debnath (Ind), 2:11.65, 3. Md Juwel Ahmed (Ban), 2:15.05. 4x100m medley relay: 1. India, 3:49.78 — NGR; OR — 3:58.76, 2. Sri Lanka, 3:58.11, 3. Bangladesh, 4:01.03.
Women: 100m freestyle: 1. Kimiko Raheem (SL), 57.20s — NGR; OR — 1:00.40, 2. Machiko Raheem (SL), 59.64s, 3. Shivani Kataria (Ind), 1:00.14. 50m butterfly: 1. Jyotsna Pansare (Ind), 29.19s, 2. Avantika Chavan (Ind), 29.67s, 3. K.A. Hiruni Perera (SL), 30.21s. 200m individual medley: Shraddha Sudhir (Ind), 2:31.18, 2. Gaurika Singh (Nep), 2:33.26, 3. Uthama Silva (SL), 2:40.07. 4x100m medley relay: 1. Sri Lanka , 4:27.75 — NGR; OR — 4:40.42, 2. India (4:30.91), 3. Pakistan (4:48.01).
Football: India 3 (Kuman Udanta Singh 5, 59, Pritam Kotal 12) bt Maldives 2 (Muruthala Adnan 10, Pritam Kotal 42-og).
Hockey: India 3 (Gagandeep Singh 8, Gaganpreet Singh 30, 56) bt Sri Lanka 0; Pakistan 6 bt Bangladesh 0.
