KATHMANDU, July 21: Tribhuvan Army Club's Sirish Gurung set two national records in swimming as he added four more gold medals to his overnight tally of four golds in the 21st National and Age-group Swimming Competition at the Satdobato Swimming Complex in Lalitpur on Wednesday.

Sirish bettered his own timing to set the new national record in men's 100m backstroke.

Sirish set the record by clocking 1 minute and 12.00 seconds to beat his previous mark of 1 minute and 12.90 seconds, recorded in the swimming event of Seventh National Games held in Kathmandu. Although the main events of the national games are scheduled for this winter in the Eastern Region, some events have already been held in other parts of the country.

Anubhav Subba (1 minute and 14.04 seconds), Devesh Manandhar (1 minute and 15.94 seconds) came second and third respectively.

Sirish bettered Puspa Raj Shahi's timing of 32.62 seconds by clocking 31.98 seconds to set new record in the 50m backstroke. Puspa had set the record in 2007 in Kathmandu. Anubhav (33.88 seconds) and Devesh (34.78 seconds) finished second and third.

Sirish also won gold in 200m freestyle with a timing of 2 minutes and 17 seconds. Devesh (2 minutes and 18.57 seconds) and Anubhav (2 minutes and 22.19 seconds) claimed silver and bronze medals respectively.

Fourth gold for Sirish came from 50m freestyle after he took 26.56 seconds to complete the distance. Devesh (27.25 seconds), Nitesh Manandhar (28.34 seconds) finished second and third.

Meanwhile, Sofia Shah claimed five gold medals in women's section on Wednesday.

Sofia won 200m individual medley with a timing of 3 minutes and 0.41 seconds, while Tisa Shakya (3 minutes and 6.07 seconds) and Ayushma Tuladhar (3 minutes and 11.80 seconds) won silver and bronze medals respectively.

Sofia pocketed another gold medal in 100m backstroke by clocking 1 minute and 21.04 seconds. Shreetika Singh (1 minute and 28.18 seconds) and Ayushma (1 minute and 29.75 seconds) came second and third.

Similarly, a timing of 36.44 seconds helped Sofia win 50m backstroke gold. Shreetika (39.09 seconds) and Niharika Tuladhar (39.81 seconds) finished in the second and third positions respectively.

Sofia clocked 29.16 seconds to win gold medal in 50m freestyle, while Savanah Ghale (31.41 seconds) and Shreetika (32.09 seconds) came second and third.

Likewise, Sofia claimed her fifth gold medal in 100m butterfly with a timing of 1 minute and 23.87 seconds. Shreetika (1 minute and 27.69 seconds) and Tisa Shakya (1 minute and 30 seconds) finished second and third respectively.

Sofia had won two gold medals on Tuesday.

 
• national records
 
• sirish