GUWAHATI: Rehan Poncha of Karnataka smashed two records on the penultimate day of the swimming competition of the 33rd National Games at the Dr. Zakir Hussian Aquatic Complex here on Thursday. Having already won three individual and three relay gold medals, Poncha produced record breaking timings in the men's 50m backstroke and 200m individual medley to make it eight golds overall.

The bespectacled swimmer first broke the 10-year-old record of 2:11.79s established by Abhijith J. of Karnataka in 1997. By clocking 2:11.78, Poncha not only picked up gold but also pushed Veerdhaval Khade to the silver position. His second record was in the 50m backstroke where he clocked 28.58s which bettered T.K. Senthil Kumar's previous best of 28.61 in a race that was exciting from the start.

The day's first record came in the 400m freestyle for men where Khade brooked no challenge from the field as he powered to gold in 4:07.17s which bested Poncha's 2002 mark of 4:13.28s. In the process, Khade forced the silver and bronze medal winners, Rohit Havaldar and Poncha, both of Karnataka, to clock better time than the old mark.

It was Havaldar who had a comfortable lead over Khade with 100m to go. As the two approached the turn for the final 50m, Khade closed on the leader and won almost by a length and a half. This was Khade's fourth individual gold medal.

The day's fourth record was set by Shikha Tandon in the women's 50m backstroke with a time of 31.86s which obliterated her own mark of 32.07. Assam girl Fariha Zaman gave a good chase to Shikha who made it comfortably.

Richa Mishra, aiming to win as many medals as possible, won her seventh and eighth gold medals in the 400m freestyle and 200m individual medley. These two medals swelled her gold tally to eight. Earlier, she had annexed two silver medals.

The results:

Men: 400m freestyle: 1. Veerdhaval Khade (Mah) 4: 07.17s (NGR, previous 4:13.28 R. Poncha in 2002), 2. Rohit Havaldar (Kar) 4:09.82 (BGR), 3. Rehan Poncha (Kar) 4: 11.64 (BGR). 50m backstroke: 1. Rehan Poncha (Kar) 28.58s (NGR, previous 28.61s T.K. Senthil Kumar in 2002), 2. Sandeep N.A. (Kar) 28.80, 3. M.B. Balakrishnan (TN) 28.96. 200m I.M.: 1. Rehan Poncha (Kar) 2:11.78s (NGR, previous 2:11.79s by Abhijith J. in 1997), 2. V. Khade (Mah) 2:13.76, 3. Abhishek V. (Kar) 2:16.82.

Women: 400m freestyle: 1. Richa Mishra (Del) 4:37.60s, 2. Surbhi Tipre (Mah) 4:37.89, 3. Arti Ghorpade (Mah) 4:46.45. 50m backstroke: 1. Shikha Tandon (Kar) 31.86s (NGR, previous 32.07 Shikha in 2002), 2. Fariha Zaman (Asm) 32.38, 3. Lekha Kamath (Mah) 32.64. 200m I.M.: 1. Richa Mishra (Del) 2:28.95s, 2. Pooja Alva (Kar) 2:35.05, 3. Surbhi Tipre (Mah) 2:37.15.

Diving: 1m springboard men: 1. Yogesh Watve (Ser) 304.30 points, 2. T. Hariprasad (Mah) 301.10, 3. M. Kunja Kishor (Ser) 234.15

Waterpolo, men's final league: Kerala 11 (A.G. Vijaykumar 4, S. Vinod 3) bt Bengal 6 (S. Jaiswal 4).

Women's play off for bronze: Maharasthra 10 (Dipti Motghare 3) bt Karnataka 5 (Renu R.T. 2).

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