National Games 2023: Swimmers Virdhawal, Rujuta Khade break Games records as Maharashtra continue to dominate

Panaji: Swimming couple Virdhawal and Rujuta Khade of Maharashtra broke the National Games records as they were adjudged the fastest swimmers of the 37th edition of the event at the Campal swimming pool in Panaji on Tuesday. Virdhawal, the 2010 Asian Games bronze medallist, pipped latest sensation Srihari Nataraj of Karnataka for the gold with a timing of 22.82s. Srihari clocked 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 medals 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 4x100m 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 after 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 bagged the bronze with 6755 points. Tamil Nadu clinched the gold in the 4x100m men’s relay with a timing of 40.05s ahead of Odisha, who won the silver and Kerala 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 in Fatorda, Maharashtra held last edition’s silver medallist Kerala to a 2-2 draw, while Manipur edged past Santosh Trophy runners up Meghalaya 2-1 in Pool A.