Teenage swimming prodigy Richa Mishra continued her sparkling display to demolish a 21-year-old record, while diver Tanya Ganguli bettered her own mark on the third day of the 57th National Aquatics championships in Kolkata on Friday.
Nineteen-year-old Mishra, who erased two national records on the first two days of the meet, clocked 1:04.81 seconds in the 100 metres butterfly to shatter the old mark of 1:06.19 seconds, set by ace Bula Chowdhury way back in 1982.
"It's a dream-come-true for me. I always wanted to break this record. Today I'm very happy," Mishra said minutes after achieving the remarkable feat and claiming her third gold medal at the Subhas Sarovar swimming pool.
The Police Sports Control Board swimmer overcame a late start with a swift turn to set her third record in as many days, pushing two Karnataka girls, V Sivaranjani (1:06.87s) and Shubha C (1:08.14s), to the silver and bronze respectively.
Mishra started her record breaking spree in the 50m butterfly on the opening day, before bettering her own mark in the 400m individual medley on Thursday.
In the women's three metre springboard diving, Railway Sports Control Board's Tanya Ganguli justified her top billing to bag the gold, though not before obliterating her own national record of 354.95 points created last year.
Ganguli totalled 359.75 points, while her team mate Mamoni Mondal bagged the silver, culling 346.50 points.
Maharashtra girl Vidita Rajan Powle (311.50 pts) clinched the bronze.
Comeback girl Karnataka's Nisha Millet, who answered her critics by claiming the top slot in 400m freestyle on the inaugural day, got her second gold in the 200m backstroke with a 2:29.16sec finish.
The Cyriac sisters, Sumi and Sony,. earned the silver and bronze respectively.
Railway Sports Promotion Board's Sumi clocked 2:32.48 seconds, while Kerala representative Sony completed the distance in 2:34.15 seconds.
T A Sujith of Services Sports Control Board, Karnataka's Ambica N S Iyenger and PSCB's Mandar Anand Divase picked their second gold medals of the meet during the day.
Sujith timed 58.10 seconds during the day to add the men's 100m butterfly gold to the 50m freestyle honours he had clinched yesterday.
The silver went to Akbar Ali Mir of RSPB, who touched the finishing pad in 58.13 seconds. Arjun Murldharan of PSCB earned the silver (59.18s).
Two days after winning the yellow metal in the men's 400m freestyle, Divase cornered glory in the 1500m freestyle with a 16:54.65 seconds finish, leaving the silver for Karnataka's Chetan Sharma (17:19.64 s). SSCB's Terismon Thomas (17:22.72s) had to rest content with the bronze.
In the women's 800m freestyle, Iyengar finished numero uno with a timing of 10:11.00 seconds, to boost her golden tally to two. The swimmer, who had participated in the World Championships in Bercelona in July, had won the 100m breaststroke gold on Wednesday.
Police Sports Control Board continued to lead the medal tally with eight golds, while Karantaka remained in second slot, grabbing seven.
Railway Sports Promotion Board, whose swimmers garnered three golds during the day, are now third with a five-gold haul.
