Gurung won the men´s 400m and 100m freestyle events to take his gold medals tally to three. Gurung had won gold in 200m freestyle on Tuesday clocking 2 minutes 13.84 seconds to better his own national record of 2 minutes 17 seconds set last year. He had also bagged a silver in men´s 50m freestyle.[break]
Gurung finished the 400m freestyle in 5 minutes 21.97 seconds and the 100m freestyle in 1 minute 1 second. Devesh Manandhar and Bishan Chhetri secured silver and bronze in 400m freestyle while Miraj Prajapati and Dilip Thapa took silver and bronze in 100m freestyle respectively.
Similarly, Dhital secured first position in women´s 100m butterfly and 100m backstroke on Wednesday to finish the tournament with four golds. On Tuesday, Dhital had won golds in 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle beating her own previous national records.
Dhital finished the 50m butterfly in 34.69 seconds surpassing her own previous best of 34.75 seconds set two years ago. In 100m freestyle, Dhital clocked 1 minute 9.82 seconds to better her own national record of 1 minute 10.80 seconds.
On Wednesday, Dhital took 1 minute 23.33 seconds in 100m butterfly and 1 minute 30.23 seconds in 100m backstroke to add two more golds to her overnight tally. Diwa Rana and Swasti Shrestha secured silver and bronze respectively in butterfly. Similarly, Sila Gurung and Oshina Bharati took silver and bronze respectively in backstroke.
Sonira Bista also collected two golds on Wednesday. Bista clocked 3 minutes 32.12 seconds in women´s 200m breaststroke and 43.65 seconds in 50m breaststroke to claim top position. Roja KC and Eva Kafle stood second and third in 200m breaststroke while Aditi Dhital and Anjali Syangbo bagged silver and bronze in the 50m event.
Meanwhile, Dhital´s sibling Aditi pipped her elder sister to gold in the 200m freestyle clocking 2 minutes 41.12 seconds. Rashika Paudel finished third in the event.
Prabesh Adhikari won the men´s 100m freestyle completing the distance in 1 minute 23.76 seconds. Janak Rai and Samrakshan Thapa finished second and third.
Govinda Thapa claimed gold in men´s 50m butterfly with a timing of 30.25 seconds while Manish Chitrakar, the best swimmer of National School Sports Junior Championship, and Jayanta Prakash Gurung took second and third positions.
Jayanta won gold in men´s 50m backstroke clocking 35.63 seconds while Chitra Bahadur Paudel and Mohitlal Shrestha took silver and bronze.
Sofiya Shah clinched gold in women´s 50m freestyle with a timing of 32 seconds. Anjali Shyangbo and Aditi Dhital finished second and third in the event.
National Sports Council Member Secretary Yuvaraj Lama and Nepal Swimming Association President Ashok Bajracharya, among others, distributed prizes to the winners. Altogether 82 male and 44 female swimmers had participated in the two-day championship.
Swimmers selected for world championship (Box)
KATHMANDU: Male swimmers Sirish Gurung and Miraj Prajapati and female swimmer Shreya Dhital have been selected for the FINA World Swimming Championship on the basis of their performance at the 18th National Open Swimming Championship that concluded on Wednesday. The swimmers were selected on the basis of FINA points they secured in the championship. The event was organized to select players for the World Swimming Championship to be held in Barcelona, Spain, from July 19 to August 4.
PJ Club, Kantipur triumph
KATHMANDU (REPUBLICA): Photojournalist (PJ) Club and Kantipur Publications won their respective matches on Wednesday in the Sixth Virgin Media Cup Football Tournament being held in the capital. PJ Club toiled hard to beat Arthik Abhiyan 2-1 in the match played at Buddhibikas ground, Lagankhel. Man-of-the-match Buddha Katuwal scored both the goals for PJ Club. Pradip Adhikari pulled one back for Arthik Abhiyan. In another match Dipesh Raut netted four goals as Kantipur crushed Radio Nepal 6-0. Raut was declared the man-of-the-match. Bipin Khadka and Samir Tamang were also on the scoresheet.
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