Lalitpur, September 23

Niharika Tuladhar of Lincoln School set new national record in the women’s 50m breaststroke event during the sixth NSA Cup Open and Age-group Swimming Championship here at the International Sports Complex pool today.

Tuladhar clocked 38.6 seconds to break Olympian Gaurika Singh’s record. The 13-year-old Singh had swum in 39.33 seconds during the 12th South Asian Games held in India in February.

Sonira Bista of Tribhuvan Army Club took 39.6 seconds to win silver medal and Akshara Singh of Lincoln School claimed bronze in 44.5 seconds. Tuladhar also came first in women’s 50m butterfly event clocking 34.66 seconds.

Her schoolmates Osina Bharati (35.56) and Shreetika Singh (35.65) finished second and third respectively.

In other events, Shreetika Singh claimed 200m freestyle gold in two minutes and 34.97 seconds, while her schoolmate Tisa Shakya (2:35.62) and Duana Lama (2:50.28) of John Dewey School won silver and bronze medals respectively. Lincoln clean swept the 100m freestyle event with Singh (1:10), Shakya (1:12.25) and Lama (1:19.72) finishing in top three positions respectively. Osina Bharati (1:21.81), Shreetika Singh (1:23.56) and Niharika Tuladhar (1:28.56), all from Lincoln, claimed 100m backstroke event gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.

Sonira Bista of TAC took three minutes and 22.03 seconds to win the 200m breaststroke gold, finishing ahead of Niharika Tuladhar (3:26.19) and Duan Lama (3:31.08).

In men’s section, Devesh Manandhar of Nepal APF Club bagged three gold medals. Manandhar won the 100m freestyle event with the timing of one minute and 1.04 seconds, while Anubhav Subba of DAV School came second in 1:1.56 and Nitesh Manandhar (1:3.65) of APF was third. Manandhar (2:48.28) bagged 200m backstroke gold leaving behind Subba (2:51.18) and Lincoln’s Nasir Hussain (2:58.61).

Manandhar’s third gold medal came in 50m butterfly event after he took 29.90 seconds to complete the distance. TAC duo Dilip Thapa Magar (30.09) and Bhishma Baduwal (30.90) won silver and bronze respectively.

Likewise, Subba (1:11.41), Baduwal (1:16.47) and Bijay Shrestha (1:18.15), all from TAC, finished in top three positions respectively in 100m butterfly. KMC School’s Shuvam Shrestha (2:43.13) defeated TAC’s Kiran Karki (2:49.59) and Rupesh Chaudhary (3:07.50) in the 200m breaststroke.

Meanwhile, Olympian Shiris Gurung won the 400m freestyle gold in the only event he participated in the championship. Gurung took four minutes and 39.35 seconds to finish ahead of Devesh Manandhar (5:02.15) and Anubhav Subba (5:04.16). He withdrew from other events due to fever.

“He competed in only event just to take part in the championship as he has been suffering from fever,” said Nepal Swimming Association General Secretary Jagat Man Shrestha. “There was no certainty about his participation in Saturday’s events.”