Kshipra shatters Sood's 23-yr-old record; Havaldar bags 3 more golds

Mumbai, Oct 24 (UNI) Kshipra S M of RGU, Bangalore took away the final day's honours when she shattered Anita Sood's 23-year-old record to bag the gold in the women's 400m freestyle, in the All India Inter University Aquatic Championship, organised by HR College and co-sponsored by Reliance Industries, at the Andheri Sports Complex here today.

On an eventful concluding day when more records tumbled in the competition, Kshipra clocked 4:47.44 seconds to eclipse Sood's 4:49.10 set way back in 1985. Bangalore University's Tejaswini V was second in 4:51.00 and T Shilpa Naidu of Andhra University finished third in 4:52.57.

Kshipra's stunning effort overshadowed Bangalore University's Rohit Havaldar's triple gold haul today including new meet records in the 200m backstroke and 100m freestyle.

Havaldar won his fifth gold in the 200m backstroke in a record time of 2:09.50 seconds. He sank last year's record of 2:13.80 seconds set by Anna University's M B Balakrishnan, who finished second in 2:14.30 seconds.

Havaldar went on to add his sixth gold in the 100m freestyle in a record time of 0:53.52 seconds that clipped the 2005 mark of 0:55.15 seconds by Kerala University's Athul Krishnaraj.

In the process, Sandeep N A of VTU, Belgaum also bettered Krishnaraja's record with a timing of 0:55.12 seconds.

Havaldar completed a rewarding campaign by snatching the 200m butterfly for his seventh gold in the meet, as Srinand Srinivas of RGU, Bangalore finished second and Pranoy Adhikari of Mumbai University was third.

Shikha Tandon added another gold to her tally when she bagged 100m freestyle in a record time of 1:01.03 seconds to eclipse her own mark of 1:01.23 set in 2004.

Shikha pushed arch-rival Kshipra S M to the second place, while Pooja Alva was third in a formidable line-up.

Kolkata ended hosts Mumbai's winning streak following a 7-3 triumph in the men's waterpolo final. Mohan Shaw scored three goals, while Chandan Sharma added two for the winners.

Mumbai, who shocked holders Kerala in the semi-finals and made it to the title round after 10 years, scored all three goals through the prolific Mohnish Patel. In the third-fourth place play-off tie, Amravati shocked Kerala 8-7 in a thriller.

RESULTS (All finals): MEN: 200m backstroke: 1. Rohit Havaldar (Bangalore) 2:09.50 NMR; 2. M.B. Balakrishnan (Anna Univ) 2:14.30; 3. Sandeep N.A. (VTU, Belgaum) 2:19.71.

200m butterfly:1. Rohit Havaldar (Bangalore), 2. Srinand Srinivas (RGU, Bangalore), 3. Pranoy Adhikari (Mumbai Univ).

100m freestyle: 1. Rohit Havaldar (Bangalore) 0:53.52 NMR; 2.

Sandeep N.A. (VTU, Belgaum) 0:55.12 BMR; 3. Anshul Kothari (SVPNIT, Surat).

50m breaststroke: 1. Sandeep Sejwal (Del) 0:29.95 NMR; 2. Arjun JP (VTU, Belgaum), 3. Yashodhan Lonkar (Pune).

Waterpolo (final): Calcutta 7 (Mohan Shaw 3, Chandan Sharma 2) bt Mumbai 3 (Mohnish Patel 3). 3rd/4th play-off:Amravati bt Kerala 8-7.

WOMEN: 400m freestyle: 1. Kshipra S.M. (RGU, Bangalore) 4:47.44 NMR; 2. Tejaswini V. (Bangalore), 3. T. Shilpa Naidu (Andhra Univ).

200m backstroke: 1. Amreen Malik (Andhra Univ); 2. Tejaswini V.

(Bangalore), 3. Kshipra S.M. (RGU, Bangalore).

100m freestyle: 1. Shikha Tandon (Bangalore) 1:01.03 NMR; 2.

Kshipra S M (RGU, Bangalore), 3. Pooja Alva (VTU, Belgaum).

200m butterfly: 1. Pooja Alva (VTU, Belgaum), 2. Tejaswini V.

(Bangalore), 3. Pooja Ghorpade (Pune).

50m breaststroke: 1. Tejaswini V. (Bangalore), 2. Prerna Jain (Bangalore), 3. M. Mini (Calicut Univ).

Overall champions: Bangalore University (134 points).

Men's champion: Rohit Havaldar (Bangalore Unive, 40 points).

Women's champion: Tejaswini V. (Bangalore Univ, 33 pts).

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