PHOTO: AP

GOLDEN MERMAID: Lekha Kamath swimming to the women's 50m butterfly gold, one of her four at the South Asian Games, on Wednesday.

COLOMBO: It was a major success story for India in swimming — bagging 32 gold, 18 silver and three bronze medals in the South Asian Games.

On the final day of the swimming event on Wednesday, India bagged seven golds and once again the Indian national anthem kept echoing in the Sugathadasa indoor stadium pool. Leading the charge was Rehan Poncha who came up with a new Games mark in the 400m individual medley and then for a while the interest was only to check who would finish behind the Indians!

Sejwal pipped

Until Bangladesh's Shajahan Ali provided the break. In what proved the closest race, Ali edged out India's Sandeep Sejwal by three-hundredths of a second in 50m breaststroke. The short race can be a thriller and this one certainly was. More so, as the earlier races had witnessed the Indians finishing far head of the pack.

It was also a day when 15-year-old Mumbai schoolgirl Lekha Kamath made it a memorable four-gold haul, (50 and 100 freestyle, 50 and 100 butterfly) the most by an Indian in swimming this time. Considering this is her first international outing, Lekha has made a big splash.

Among the male swimmers, Poncha finished with three golds. Towards the end stages he was outstanding leaving his name in two records.

In a setting where Indian domination was prominent there still was a race where an Indian did not finish in the medals bracket. The surprise came in the women's 50m breaststroke where India's lone entry Tejaswani finished fourth. Sri Lanka's Mayumi won her third gold and, naturally, became the darling of the crowd.

The results:

Men: 400m IM: 1. Rehan Poncha (Ind) (4:37.04s, NR, prev 4:42.57, Abhijith, Ind, '95); 2. Arjun Jayaprakash (Ind) (4:48.84); 3. Nisar Ahmed (Pak, 4:52.25); 200m freestyle: 1. Virdhaval Khade (Ind, 1:59.07, NR, prev 1:59.08, Habibullah, Ind, '99); 2. Amar Muralidharan (Ind, 1:59.23); 3. Heshan Unamboowe (SL, 2:02.74); 50m breaststroke: 1. Shajahan Ali (Ban, 30.43s); 2. Sandeep Sejwal (Ind, 30.46); 3. Md. Niaz Ali (Ban, 31.52); 50m backstroke: 1. Arjun Muralidharan (Ind, 28.28); 2. Rubel Rana (Ban, 28.40); 3. Heshan Unamboowe (Ban, 28.86); 400m medley: 1. India (Virdhaval, Sandeep, Arjun, Khade; 4:00.42); 2. Sri Lanka (4:11.67); 3. Nepal (4:53.92).

Women: 200m freestyle: 1. Pooja Alva (Ind, 2:14.65); 2. Neeraja (Ind, 2:15.96); 3. Kiran Khan (Pak, 2:18.67); 50m butterfly: 1. Lekha Kamath (Ind, 29.71s); 2. Sana Wahid (Pak, 32.87); 3. Miniruwani Samarakoon (SL, 33.06); 50m breaststroke: 1. Mayumi Raheem (SL, 34.97); 2. Doli Akther (Ban, 36.14); 3. Mahfuza Khatun (Ban, 36.87); 400m medley: 1. India (Fariha, Tejaswini, Lekha, Parita; 4:40.42); 2. Sri Lanka (4:49.12); 3. Pakistan (4:57.99).

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