National Games 2023: Swimming couple Virdhawal and Rujuta Khade crowned fastest swimmers

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.

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 leaped 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 4x100 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 4x100 M Men’s relay with a timing of 40.05 s 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 which 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. 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)