Dhital clocked 11 minutes 40.45 seconds to set a new national record in women´s open 800m freestyle at the Satdobato Swimming Pool, Lalitpur. Karishma Karki held the previous record of 11 minutes 46.22 seconds, which she had set during the 10th South Asian Games held in Colombo in 2006. Rashika Paudel of Pathshala and Yam Kumari Ghale of Nepal Army finished second and third respectively in the event. [break]
Shah broke her own national record in women´s 200m freestyle with a timing of 2 minutes 30.93 seconds. She had set the previous record of 2 minutes 31.79 seconds during the 15th FINA World Swimming Championships held in Barcelona, Spain earlier this year. Dhital finished second in the event and Shila Gurung of Xavier Academy took third place.
Gurung completed the men´s open 400m individual medley in 5 minutes 20.39 seconds to surpass his previous national record of 5 minutes 21.20 seconds, which he had set in the last edition of the championship. Chitra Bahadur Paudel and Janak Rai of Nepal Army secured the second and third positions respectively.
Besides setting the national record, Gurung claimed three gold medals in open category and a gold in age-group event on Sunday. In the men´s open section, he won the 400m freestyle with a timing of 5 minutes 15.24 seconds and the 100m butterfly with a timing of 1 minute 8.50 seconds. He also won the 100m freestyle clocking 1 minute 1.24 seconds. Gurung claimed his fourth gold of the day in the 100m breaststroke of the U-17 age group clocking 1 minute 21.94 seconds. Gurung represented Kendriya Vidyalaya in the age-group events.
In the women´s open section, Shila Gurung clinched the 100m breaststroke gold with a timing of 3 minutes 9.65 seconds. Sabbu Bista of Nepal Army finished second on 1 minute 37.60 seconds.
Rupesh Chaudhary of Nepal Army won the men´s open 200m breaststroke with a timing of 3 minutes 4.47 seconds and Jayant Prakash Gurung clocked 34.63 seconds to win the men´s open 50m backstroke.
In the 25m freestyle competition for wheelchair-bound athletes, Sonika Dhakal won gold in the women´s section and Raju Katwal clinched gold in the men´s section.
Little Angels´ accumulated 95 points to win the team title in the age group of the championship organized by Nepal Swimming Association (NSA). Lincoln and Dikshanta Academy took the second and third positions.
Prashant Dumi Rai (U-10 boys), Swarnima Tamang (U-10 girls), Rojan Dumi Rai (U-12 boys), Sabbu Bista (U-12 girls), Debesh Manandhar (U-14 boys), Shritika Singh (U-14 girls), Shirish Gurung (U-17 boys) and Shila Gurung (U-17 girls) were adjudged the best swimmers of their respective age groups.
NSA also awarded Pushpa Raj Shahi with a motorbike in recognition of his long service to Nepali swimming and some national records that he had set in the past.
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