KATHMANDU, Dec 10: Gaurika Singh added another gold to take her 13th South Asian Games (SAG) gold tally to four on the last day of the swimming competition at the 13th South Asian Games (SAG) in Lalitpur on Monday.
With this, she has become the only Nepali athlete to win four golds in a single Games. Only taekwondo’s Deepak Bista has won four SAG golds, but no athlete had achieved the feat in a single tournament.
Singh won her fourth gold medal in the women’s 100 meters freestyle event with a brilliant timing of 53.13 seconds, defeating her closest competitor of India’s Shivangi Sarma, who clocked 58.15 to win the silver.
Likewise, India’s Jain Annie won the bronze covering the distance in 59.04, while Nepal’s Anushiya Tandukar finished sixth timing 1:02.96 minutes.
Gaurika sets another nat’l record, wins three golds
She had earlier won the gold medals in 200 meters freestyle, 200 meters backstroke and 400 meters freestyle over the span of the last four days. Also, she won a bronze in 400 meters freestyle team event.
Also, Singh, teaming up with Duana Lama, Tisa Shakya and Anushiya Tandukar won the bronze medal, adding a second bronze after Singh had won the bronze in 400 meters freestyle team earlier.
In the category, the Nepali team timed 4:33.62 minutes to win the bronze, finishing behind India and Sri Lanka respectively. India won the gold clocking 4:21.28 minutes, while Sri Lanka covered the distance in 4:24.66.
Likewise, Shakya won the bronze medal with a timing of 2:33.01 minutes in the women’s 200 meters individual medley. In the category, India’s Richa Mishra won the gold clocking 2:25.11 minutes, while Pakistan’s Bisma Khan finished second completed the distance in 2:32.50.
India won a total of 27 golds, with the heavyweight team winning 19 silvers and six bronzes taking its total swimming gold tally to 52. Likewise, Sri Lanka finished on second with a total of 36 medals, seven golds, 11 silvers and 18 bronzes. Likewise, Nepal was third with four golds, four silvers and four bronzes. Bangladesh and Pakistan were goldless.
In men’s 200 meters individual medley, Sri Lanka claimed the gold medal with a timing of 2:01.66 minutes, while India duo Sridhar Suva and Srihari Nataraj clocked 2:02.42 and 2:09.49 minutes to claim the silver and the bronze respectively.
In men’s 100 meters freestyle, Sri Lankan duo Matthew Duncan Abeysinghe and Halpewaththaga Dimu Peiris won the gold and the silver with the timings of 49.27 and 50.53 respectively. Likewise, India won the silver timing 50.37, while Nepal’s Alex Gadegaard Shah finished seventh clocking 54.13.
In men’s 50 meters butterfly, Sri Lankan duo Abeysinghe and Peiris won the gold and the bronze timing 24.00 and 24.51 respectively. Similarly, India’s Virdhawal Vikram Khade won the silver covering the distance in 24.02, while Nepal’s finished at the bottom clocking 26.56.
In women’s 50 meters butterfly, India duo Divya Satija and Nina Venkatesh won the gold and the silver with the timings of 28.00 and 28.33 respectively. Similarly, Sri Lanka’s Sandu Savindi J Muhandiramge timed 28.93 to finish third, while Nepal’s Ayushma Tuladhar finished seventh clocking 31.67.
In men’s 400 meters medley relay, India won the gold with Bangladesh and Pakistan finishing second and third respectively. Nepali team of Shah, Shuvam Shrestha, Anubhav Subba and Sayed Hamza Shah was fourth.
