In the men's section, Police had a satisfying day out with 17-year-old CRPF head constable Deepak Kumar Singh doing a career best of 1:08.52 in the 100m breaststroke which was 0.05 seconds off Sebastian Xavier's (Railways) mark set in 1994. Police had two gold, two silver and one bronze at the end of the day.

Thirteen-year-old Zeba earned a deserving gold for Maharashtra. Shikha Tandon could not push her enough to go for Sajini Shetty's three year old mark of 1:20.43, still it was a vastly improved 1:20.94 as against 1:23.9 at Thiruvananthapuram last year that got Maharashtra their first gold. Shikha was satisfied with a silver with 1;23.55 while Karnataka'sArchana Bhushan clinched a bronze in 1:24.27.

It was a tremendous performance by 13-year-old Shikha Tandon who had the distinction of rewriting the first National record that fell in the pool. She stopped the electronic clock at four minutes, 38.04 seconds in the 400 metre freestyle to better Meghana Narayan's three-year-old record of 4:39.00.

The second national mark was bettered by Nisha, in the 50m backstroke. Nisha had sent out a warning to her rivals with a time of 0:31.80 (old: 0:32.38 1997) in the heats while Mayura Kumar of Tamil Nadu had bettered the time with 0:32.37. In the finals, Nisha went for 0:30.9 but fell short of her own expectations. Close to the 35-metre mark she put her head up slightly, perhaps to evaluate the opposition, but the act cost her at the finish.

However, time of 0:31.51 meant the record stayed in her name. Record in diving: Ishani Ghosh of Railways bettered her National mark of 290 points in the women's high board diving. Earning her highest points (48.75) in theinward two and half somersault in C position on the seventh dive, she turned in a degree of difficulty of 2.5 for the gold. Suparna Pal of Bengal bettered the mark with 307.9 points while GB Shilpa got the bronze with 280.45 points.

Results

Men: 400 M freestyle: Kailash Nath (Pol) 1, Dinesh Rajoria (Pol) 2, Shreesh Reddy (Kar) 3. T: 4:17.89 secs. 100m breaststroke: Deepak Kumar Singh (Pol) 1, Harinder Singh (Del) 2, Umesh Tokas (Pol) 3. T: 1:08.57. 200m butterfly: K Suresh Kumar (Rlys) 1, Elvis Ali Hazarika (Pol) 2, HA Mir (Rlys) 3. T: 2:09.76. 50m backstroke: Sandeep Kakkar (Del) 1, Shane Pedder (Maha) 2, TK Senthil Kumar (Pol) 3. T:28.68 secs.

women: 400m freestyle:Shikha Tandon (Kar) 1, Richa Mishra (Del) 2, K Chitra (Kar) 3. T: 4:38.04 secs (NR) old: Meghana Narayan 4:39.00, 1995. 100m breaststroke: Zeba Wadia (Maha) 1, Shikha Tandon (Kar) 2, Archana Bhushan (Kar) 3. T: 1:20.94 secs. 200 M butterfly: Meghana Narayan (Kar) 1, K Chitra (Kar) 2, M Usha (Ker) 3. T: 2:25.33 secs. 50m backstroke:Nisha Millet (Kar) 1, Mayura Kumar (TN) 2, Nisha Madgavkar (Goa) and Abhinaya Shetty (Kar) 3. T: 31.51 secs (NR). Old: Nisha Millet 32.38 secs in 1997.

WATERPOLO: Men: Pool A: Punjab bt J & K 4-0 (conceded after first quarter). Pool B: Bengal bt Gujarat 8-1 Pool C: Indian Police bt Karnataka 7-0 (conceded after third quarter) Pool D: Bihar bt Andhra Pradesh 14-1.

DIVING: Women: High board: Ishani Ghosh (Rlys) 1, Suparna Pal (West Bengal) 2, GB Shilpa (Kar) 3, Points: 310.05 (NMR) old: 290 points Ishani Ghosh 1994.