Talasha Prabhu denies Richa sprint gold

Richa Mishra was again the day's star performer as five records were shattered in the pool in the 34th National Games in Ranchi on Tuesday.

The Delhi girl picked two gold medals with record timings to make it six in sum by the end of day three. However, she had to settle for second place, behind Goa's Talasha Prabhu, in the sprint event, at the Veer Budhu Bhagat Aquatic Stadium.

Indian swimming sensation Virdhawal Khade rewrote his earlier record in the heats and went on to improve upon it in the final to emerge the fastest swimmer of the meet.

Promising Karnataka youngster Gagan A P and compatriot Rohit Havaldar smashed the other two records to fall on Tuesday.

It was again a memorable day for Maharashtra and Karnataka who clinched two gold medals each.

Battling a stomach upset, 27-year-old Delhi girl Richa clocked 05.09:47s to better a nine-year-old record of 05.09:91s in the 400m individual medley, while Karnataka bagged silver and bronze through Pooja Alva (05.25:03) and Sushaka Pratap (05.30:21) respectively.

Richa smashed her four-year-old record (02.29:34s) in the 200m backstroke when she clocked 02.26:82s.

Richa trailed Ananya Panigrahi of Maharashtra over the first 50 metres, but the ace swimmer slowly went ahead and stretched the lead before eclipsing her previous best.

Ananya had to be content with silver with a timing of 02.29:22s, while her statemate Aarti Ghorpade took the bronze, clocking 02.32:04s.

But Richa's hopes of completing a hat-trick on the day were dashed in the 50m freestyle, as Talasha lived up to her reputation in the sprint to claim the gold, clocking 27:95s.

Richa clocked 28:22s for the silver, while A V Jayaveena of Tamil Nadu clinched the bronze in 28:66s.

Asian Games bronze medalist Khade had no problem winning the 50m freestyle. The Kolhapur boy clocked 23:08s en route to his third gold.

In the morning session's heats, the 19-year-old had bettered his four-year-old record (23:92s) with a timing of 23:81s.

Arjun J P of Karnataka bagged the silver, stopping the clock at 24:65s, while Anshul Kothari (24:96s) took home the bronze.

Showing a lot of promise, 19-year-old Karnataka youngster Gagan smashed Rehan Poncha's four-year-old record (04.44:32s) with a superb timing of 04.40:08s in the 400m individual medley to start the proceedings in swimming.

Delhi bagged the silver through Merwyn Chen who clocked 04.46:56, while national record holder Sandeep Sejwal, representing Madhya Pradesh, won the bronze with a timing of 04.51:89s.

In diving, Maharashtra clinched the gold through Hrutika Shriram, who logged 200.95 points in the high board en route to the gold, while her statemate Jagruti Satarakar logged 159.50.

Bengal's Tanuka Dhara bagged the bronze with 153.45.