37th National Games: Virdhawal, Rujuta Khade crowned as fastest swimmers

Panaji (Goa) [India]: Swimming power couple Virdhawal and Rujuta Khade of Maharashtra broke the Games records on the way to be adjudged as the fastest swimmers of the 37th National Games being held here at the Campal Swimming Pool on Tuesday.

Virdhawal, the 2010 Asian Games bronze medallist, pipped Indian swimming latest sensation Srihari Nataraj of Karnataka for the gold with a timing of 22.82s. Srihari stopped the clock at 22.91s for the silver while Maharashtra’s Mihir Ambre took the bronze with a time of 22.99s, as per a press release from National Games.

In the last race of the day, Rujuta made it a reason for a double celebration for the family as she improved on the Games record to win the 50m women’s freestyle gold with a time of 26.42s. Shivangi Sharma (26.80s) of Assam and Janhvi Choudhary (26.89s) of West Bengal took home the silver and bronze medals respectively.

“It is very special for the both of us. We’ve been winning this event together since 2019, but every time it feels just as special as the first time. Here today, winning the medal feels great, but setting the National Games record together makes it even more special for the both of us,’ said Rujuta after the race.

Maharashtra continued their dominance in the games increasing their total tally to 123 medals with 52 Gold, 35 Silver and 36 Bronze. Services Sports Control Board who have 19 gold medals leapt ahead of Haryana in the medal tally by securing one gold more than Haryana who ended the day on 18 golds.

The athletics competitions were delayed due to heavy rainfall after the completion of 4×100 M Women’s relay. Asian Games medallist, Jyoti Yarraji anchored Andhra Pradesh to gold ahead of Kerala and Karnataka who won silver and bronze respectively.

After the resumption of the competition, Asian Games Silver medallist, Tejaswin Shankar representing Delhi clinched the gold medal in Decathlon with a new National Games record completing the two-day event with a total of 7199 points. Rohit Roman of SSCB won the silver with 6794 points while N. Thowfeeq of Kerala won the bronze with 6755 points.

Tamil Nadu clinched the gold in the 4×100 M Men’s relay with a timing of 40.05 seconds ahead of Odisha who won the silver and Kerala who won the bronze.
In Taekwondo at the Ponda Multipurpose Indoor Stadium, Maharashtra and Gujarat won two gold medals each out of the five that were decided. SSCB secured the other gold.

At Tilak Maidan in Vasco West Bengal and Manipur booked their places in the semi-finals from Pool A in women’s football. West Bengal edged out Jharkhand 3-2 in the final group match while Manipur got the better of Tamil Nadu 2-0 to confirm their places in the semis.

In Men’s football at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Fatorda Maharashtra held last edition’s silver medallists Kerala to a 2-2 draw while Manipur edged past Santhosh Trophy runners-up Meghalaya 2-1 in Pool A.

Important Results:

-Athletics
Decathlon
Gold – Tejaswin Shankar (Delhi) – 7199 points (NGR)
Silver – Rohit Roman (SSCB) – 6794 points
Bronze – N. Thowfeeq (Kerala) – 6755 points
4 X 100 M Relay Women
Gold – Andhra Pradesh – 45.61 s
(Chelemi Pratyusha, Bhavani Yadav, L. Madhu Kavya Reddy, Jyothi Yarraji)
Silver – Kerala – 46.02 s
(V. Neha, Remaya Rajan, P.D Anjali, A.P Shilbi)
Bronze – Karnataka – 46.22 s
(Medha Kamath, C. Anjali, T. Daneshwari, S.S Sneha)
4 X 100 M Relay Men
Gold – Tamil Nadu – 40.05 s
(S. Tamil Arasu, R. Sai Siddharth, V.K Elakkiyadasan, Kathiravan)
Silver – Odisha – 40.13 s
(Mruty Dondapati, Aryan Ekka, Lalu Prasad Bhoi, Amiya Kumar Mallick)
Bronze – Kerala – 40.14 s
(D.B Bibin, Muhammed Shan, C.V Anurag, T. Midhun)

-Javelin Throw
Gold – Shilpa Rani (Haryana) – 54.82 m
Silver – Priyanka Singh (Haryana) – 53.75 m
Bronze – Rashmi K.Shetty (Andhra Pradesh) – 52.55 m

-Swimming
50 M Freestyle Men
Gold – Virdhawal Khade (Maharashtra) – 22.82 s (NGR)
Silver – Srihari Nataraj (Karnataka) – 22.91 s
Bronze – Mihir Ambre (Mahrashtra) – 22.99 s
50 M Freestyle Women
Gold – Rujuta Khade (Maharashtra) – 26.42 s (NGR)
Silver – Shivangi Sharma (Assam) – 26.80 s
Bronze – Janhvi Choudhary (West Bengal) – 26.89 s
400 M Medley Men
Gold – Shoan Ganguly (Karnataka) – 4:28.09 s (NGR)
Silver – Advait Page (Madhya Pradesh) – 4:28.20
Bronze – Sajan Prakash (Kerala) – 4:32.18 s
200 M Backstroke Men
Gold – Nithik Nathella (Tamil Nadu) – 2:03.32 s (NGR)
Silver – Rishabh Das (Maharashtra) – 2:04.80 s
Bronze – Advait Page (Madhya Pradesh) – 1:05.79 s
200 M Backstroke Women
Gold – Palak Joshi (Maharashtra) – 2:22.12 s
Silver – Soubrity Mondal (West Bengal) – 2:22.39 s
Bronze – Karnataka – Sanjana Prabhugaonker (Goa) – 2:23.64 s
400 M Medley Women
Gold – S. Lakshya (Karnataka) – 5:12.27 s
Silver – Hashika Ramachandra (Karnataka) -5:13.42 s
Bronze – Shrungi Bandekar (Goa) – 5:13.69 s

-Taekwondo
Men’s Individual Poomsae
Gold – Laishram Dingku Singh (SSCB) – 6.83 points
Silver – Lalthlamuanpuia (Mizoram) – 6.68 points
Bronze – Miching Taja (Arunachal Pradesh) – 6.56 points
Vansh Prem Singh Thakur (Maharashtra) – 6.55 points
Women’s Individual Poomsae
Gold – Mrunali S. Harnekar (Maharashtra) – 6.81 points
Silver – Laya Fathima C.K (Kerala) – 6.66 points
Bronze – Rikpy Nyodu (Arunachal Pradesh) – 6.58 points,
Umelly Mangshatabam (Manipur) – 6.34 points
Women’s Under 46 Kg
Gold – Twisha Kakadiya (Gujarat)
Silver – Sakshi Patil (Maharashtra)
Bronze – Parsida N.C (Kerala)
Naoroibam Jina Devi (Manipur)
Men’s Under 54 Kg
Gold – Abhijeet Khopade (Maharashtra)
Silver – Nirman Rupam Kashyap (Assam)
Bronze – Om Lal Sah (Uttarakhand)
Vikash (Haryana)
Men’s Under 87 Kg
Gold – Jay Nilesh Kimayagar (Gujarat)
Silver – Manjeet Singh (Rajasthan)
Bronze – Sudhir Chauhan (Nagaland)
Pramod Joshi (SSCB)

-Hockey
Women
Pool A: Manipur bt Tamil Nadu – 4-0
Pool B: Punjab bt Karnataka – 4-1, Mahrashtra bt Goa – 2-1
Men
Pool A: Haryana drew Odisha – 3-3
Pool B: Jharkhand drew Uttar Pradesh – 4-4, Tamil Nadu bt Goa – 6-3

-Women’s Football
Pool A: West Bengal bt Jharkhand – 3-2, Manipur bt Tamil Nadu – 2-0
Men’s Football
Pool A: Kerala drew Maharashtra – 2-2, Manipur bt Meghalaya – 2-1

-Men’s Beach Football
Semi-Finals: Kerala bt Punjab – 11-3, Goa bt Lakshadweep – 7-5

-Tennis
Women’s Team Semi-Finals
Gujarat bt Telangana – 2-0
Maharashtra bt Tamil Nadu – 2-0
Men’s Team Semi-Finals
Karnataka bt Uttar Pradesh – 2-1

-Water Polo
Group Stage Matches
Women
Maharashtra bt Assam – 25-1
Karnataka bt Manipur – 20-6
Men
Maharashtra bt Manipur – 28-3
Kerala bt Karnataka – 18-1

-Diving
Platform Men
Gold – Ningthoujam Willson Singh (SSCB)
Silver – Sourav Debnath (SSCB).
Bronze – Tushar Gitaye (Maharashtra).