The capacity crowd at Mihir Sen Plaza had waited patiently for more than two hours just to see their favourite Sajan Prakash win his seventh gold in 100m freestyle. But they were in for a big disappointment as Aaron D' Souza blitzed the field to set a new games record while Sajan Prakash finished fourth.
Sajan Prakash lived a dream and would have wished it to end on a high note on the final day of swimming competitions here on Saturday. But a determined Aaron had other ideas as he beat a strong field, which included existing record-holder Virdhawal Khade, Neil Contractor, Anshul Kothari and Sajan Prakash, to win his third individual gold of the meet.
Virdhawal was first to react at the start, leading at the end of 50 metres. But Aaron, who was lying in the second spot, caught up with Khade and pulled ahead in the last 10 metres to finish in 0:50.97 seconds.
The old record stood in the name of Khade (0:51.30) and was set in 2011. He finished second, clocking 0:51.10, while Anshul Kothari (0:52.71) got the bronze medal.
Asian Games bronze medallist Sandeep Sejwal (1:03.85) won his third gold medal of the meet in the 100m breast stroke event. Sejwal was unchallenged as he bettered his own meet record of 1:03.85 set in 2011. He had built a commanding lead midway through the first lap, leaving others to fight for the silver and bronze medals. Puneet Rana finished two seconds behind Sejwal for the silver while Kerala's Anoop Augustine edged out Karnataka's S.P. Likith for the bronze.
Shivani Kataria of Haryana broke Shika Tandon's 13-year-old record (0:59.71) while winning the 100m freestyle with a new games record of 0:58.34. Lying third half-way through the race, Shivani pulled ahead with about 20 metres left, and beat favourite Aditi Dhumatkar, who also came under the old mark. Talasha Prabhu, who set the pace, finished third in 1:00.13s.
However, the oldest record in the books, Sajini Shetty's mark of 1.17.35 set in 1997, still remained unbroken. Chahat Arora of Chandigarh pulled off an upset to beat favourite A.V. Jayaveena of Tamil Nadu to win the women's 100m breast stroke event.
National champion Jayaveena was the leader at the end of the 50m, but she faded away as Chahat sneaked past her at about the 80m mark and finished ahead of Monique Gandhi in 1:17.48s. Jayaveena ended up third, finishing in 1:17.94s.
In all, 37 records were set in seven days of competition.
It was mixed luck for Kerala in water polo, with its men's team went down to Services 10-12 on penalties. The women retained the gold, emerging unbeaten in the five-team league.
Services’ Ramananda Sharma picked up the gold with 313.45 points in diving. His team-mate Hemjit Meitei won the silver with 274.20 points while Kerala's Siddarth Pardeshi took the bronze with 263.55 points.
The results: Diving: 1m spring board: 1. K. Ramananda Sharma (SSCB) (313.45 pts), 2. Y. Hemjit Meitei (SSCB) (274.20), 3. Siddarth Pardeshi (Ker) (263.55).
Water polo: Men (final): SSCB bt Kerala 12-10 (5-3 on penalties). Loser's final: Maharashtra 9 (Arjun Kawle) bt Bengal 8 (Mohan Shaw 3). Women (league): Kerala 6 (Sreekutty 1) bt Bengal 1.
Swimming: 100m breast stroke: Men: 1. Sandeep Sejwal (MP) (NGR-1:02.12; OR-1:03.85, Sandeep Sejwal, MP, 2011), 2. Puneet Rana (Har) (1:04.16), 3. Anoop Augustine (Ker) (1:04.55). Women: 1. Chahat Arora (Chdg) (1:17.48), 2. Monique Gandhi (Mah) (1:17.87), 3. A.V.Jayaveena (TN) (1:17.94).
100m freestyle: Men: 1. Aaron D' Souza (MP) (NGR-0:50.97; OR-0:51.30, Virdhawal Khade, Maharashtra, 2011), 2. Virdhawal Khade (0:51.10), 3. Anshul Kothari (Guj) (0:52.17).
Women: 1. Shivani Kataria (Har) (NGR-0:58.34; OR-0:59.71, Shika Tandon, Karnataka, 2002), 2. Aditi Dhumatkar (Mah) (0:59.34), 3. Talasha Prabhu (Goa) (1:00.13).
