State swimmers bag three gold, maintain dominance

Bengaluru: Karnataka continued their dominance in the swimming events at the National Games in Rajkot on Wednesday. On Day 4 of the competition, swimmers from the state claimed three gold medals in record time. In the women’s 200 metres butterfly event, Hashika Ramachandra touched pad in 2:19.12 to eclipse the previous mark of 2:21.52, recorded by Astha Choudhary in the morning heats.Karnataka men and women 4x200 metres freestyle relay team too came home in record time to claim top honours.
INJURED SHARMADA
SETTLES FOR SILVER
Karnataka ended their tennis campaign with eight medals (1 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze). Sharmada Balu injured her ankle during the women's singles final against Zeel Desai of Gujarat on Wednesday and was forced to concede her match and settle for silver.
MITHUN IN FINAL
Karnataka's Mithun Manjunath set up a title clash with former national champion B Sai Praneeth of Telangana in the men's singles final of the badminton event. In the semifinals, Mithun was the dominant player in his 21-9, 21-11 victory over Gujarat’s Aryamann Tandon. Ashwini Ponnappa, who is partnering K Sai Pratheek in mixed doubles, beat Tamil Nadu’s Hariharan A and VR Nardhana 23-21, 13-21, 21-19 in the last-four contest. "I was a little rusty in my game. We were playing for the first time in a big tournament and it took some time to settle down," said the 33-year-old Ashwini. The Karnataka pair will take on the Delhi duo of Rohan Kapoor and Kanika Kanwal.
Results (Karnataka only): Badminton (all semifinals): Men’s singles: B Sai Praneeth (Tel) bt M Raghu (Kar) 21-12, 21-19; M Mithun (Kar) bt Aryamann Tandon (Guj) 21-9, 11-21; Women's singles: Aakarshi Kashyap (C'garh) be Tanya Hemanth (Kar) 21-9, 21-15; Women's doubles: Shikha Gautam /Ashwini Bhat (Kar) bt Mahreen Riza / Arathi Sara Sunil (Ker) 23-21, 21-11; Men's doubles: PS Ravikrishna / Sankarprasad Udayakumar (Ker) bt HV Nithin / Vaibhaav (Kar) 21-17, 21-14; Mixed doubles: Sai Pratheek / Ashwini Ponnappa (Kar) bt Hariharan Amsakarunan / VR Nardhana (TN) 23-21, 13-21, 21-19.Football: Karnataka 1 (SurendraPrasad 36) bt Punjab 0.Tennis (Final): Women's singles: Sharmada Balu conceded against Zeel Desai (Guj); Mixed doubles: Sharmada/ Prajwal Dev concede against Arjun Kadhe / Rutuja Bhosale (Mah).Hockey: Men: Karnataka: 3 bt Jharkhand: 2; Women: Karnataka 0 lost to Madhya Pradesh 3. Swimming: Men: 4x200m freestyle: 1. Karnataka (Sambhavv R, Siva S, Shivank Vishwanath, Aneesh Gowda) 7:41.10 (NMR; OR: 7:44.24); Women: 200m butterfly: 1. Hashika Ramachandra (2:19.12 NMR; OR: 2:21.52); 50m breaststroke: 3. Manavi Varma (35.08); 4x200m freestyle: 1, Karnataka (Dhinidhi Desinghu, Rujula S, Shalini Dixit, Hashika Ramachandra) 8:51.59 (NMR; OR: 8:54.73).On Tuesday: Athletics: Men: 200M: 2. Abhin Devadiga (20.88 sec). 400M hurdles: 3. Sinchal (58.74 sec); 2. 4x400m mixed relay: 20.51 sec. Hockey: Men: Karnataka 5 bt Tamil Nadu 1. Tennis: Men's doubles final: Adil Kalyanpur/Prajwal Dev bt Dhruv H / Madhwin K (Guj) 6-3, 6-4. Swimming: Men: 1. 200m backstroke: 1. Utkarsh Patil (2:05.08; NMR), 3. Siva S (2:06.29); 50m freestyle: Srihari Nataraj 23.42; Women: 400m medley: Hashika (5:09.03).