KATHMANDU: Banin Sensha Shrestha of Baba Boarding School stole the limelight on the inaugural day of the HIMS Inter-school Swimming Championship claiming treble gold medals here today.

Banin clocked 1 minute, 19.22 seconds to win the Boys Open 100m individual medley. His schoolmate Prakash Adhikari earned silver in 1:19.78. Banin also won the 50m (15-17yrs) butterfly in 37.38. Prakash again finished behind Banin (37.45). The swimmer added third gold in the 50m breaststroke clocking 36.84. His schoolmate Sharan Sunwar (39.00)took silver.

Baba added two more gold in the Girls’ (15-17yrs) 50m butterfly and Boys’ (13-14yrs) 50m breaststroke. Shadichya Singh Thakuri (48.06) won the 50m butterfly and Pravesh Adhikari 39.44) clinched 50m breast stroke gold.

Little Angels (LA) School also picked up five gold medals to pose themselves as a possible contender for team championship. Jitzwelly Maharjan picked up first gold for LA, winning the Girls’ (13-14yrs) 50m butterfly in 46.91. Luniva Singh of Shuvatara clocked 51.69 to take silver. Jenisha Malla gave LA the second gold winning the Girls’ (13-14yrs) 50m breaststroke in 49.19. Luniva was limited to silver and Kriti Shrestha of LA the bronze.

Sajan Chhantyal gave LA the third title in the U-10 Boys’ 25m breaststroke. Sajan clocked 22.11 while second-placed Amit Lama of Ideal School finished in 22.75. Manish Chitrakar earned LA their fourth gold after clocking 43.56 in Boys’ (11-12yrs) 50m breaststroke final. Shirish Gurung of Shuvatara won silver. LA also won the Girls’ 50m freestyle open relay with the timing of 2:59.00. HIMS and Shuvatara won silver and bronze respectively.

Likewise, Shuvatara picked up three and Kathmandu Valley took two gold medals. In the Girls’ (11-12yrs) 50m butterfly, Yasu Pulami of Shuvatara clocked 58:28 seconds to take gold before they were handed another title by Shristy Piya in the Girls’ (11-12yrs) 50m breaststroke. Shristy clocked 1:0.13. Prasamsha Shrestha of Shuvatara won the Girls’ (15-17yrs) 50m breaststroke gold in 54.50. Shadichya Singh took the silver and Samita Magar of LA the bronze.

Kathmandu Valley also had the honour of winning the gold on the opening day when Jayanta Prakash Gurung clocked 34.53 to win the Boys’ (13-14yrs) 50m butterfly. Tsering Lama (37.91) of Ideal School and Prabesh Adhikari (38.12) of Baba finished second the third. Another Kathmandu Valley swimmer Sheila

Devi Gurung won the U-10 Girls’ 25m breaststroke gold in 22.38. Sonira Bista (22.39) of Baba claimed silver and Anjalee Syangbo (23.72) of The British School won bronze.