LALITPUR: Gaurika Singh shattered three national records, while Neharika Tuladhar broke one on the opening day of the 20th Open National and Age-group Swimming Championship here today.

Singh, who has been residing and training in London, stole the limelight at the International Sports Complex pool. Singh won 100m breaststroke gold medal with a record time of one minute and 26.72 seconds breaking the previous mark of 1:27.54 set by Bibidha Rimal in the fourth Pramod Memorial Championship in 2004. Sonira Bista (1:32.23) and Tuladhar (1:34.85) came second and third.

Singh then broke Sofia Shah’s record on her way to finishing first in the 100m freestyle event. Singh completed the distance in 1:03.91 bettering Shah’s mark of 1:05.78 set during the 19th National Games in 2014. Shreestika Singh (1:17.13) and Rashika Paudyal (1:22.31) were second and third respectively.

In women’s 200m breaststroke, Singh came home in 2:37.87 beating Paudyal (3:42.91) and Jitzwelly Maharjan (3:54.22). She broke her own mark of 2:48.16 set during 19th National Games last year.

After Singh’s heroics, Tuladhar shattered another record in 15-17yrs girls’ 50m breaststroke event. Tuladhar completed the distance in 39.78 seconds bettering Bibidha Rimal’s record of 40.07 seconds set during the first SASF Games in Islamabad in 2007. Roja KC came second in 47.19s, while Swikriti Ghising was third in 53.91 seconds. Tuladhar also won the women’s 50m breaststroke time trial in 39.59 seconds.

Other winners in the open category included Devesh Manandhar (men’s 1,500m freestyle and men’s 100m backstroke), Rashika Paudyal (women’s 400m freestyle), Ani Ranjan Shahi (men’s 200m freestyle), Tika Thapa (men’s 200m breaststroke), Shreestika Singh (women’s 50m butterfly), Kiran Karki (men’s 50m breaststroke), and Galen Kelly (men’s 50m freestyle).